A top Saudi journalist has warned about potential terrorist attacks in Gulf countries by extremists who support radical Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria.

Editor-in-chief of the Bahrain-based Al Arab News channel, Jamal Khashoggi, urged GCC governments to prosecute IS sympathisers who he said posed a threat to internal security.

Khashoggi, who famously interviewed Osama bin Laden, was speaking yesterday (September 29) on the sidelines of a seminar called Small States: Security Dynamics in the Middle East Region organised by the Bahrain Centre for Strategic and International Studies (Derasat), said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The event at the Crowne Plaza Bahrain was attended by senior Interior Ministry staff and security experts, who discussed threats, challenges and potential solutions.

“We should never underestimate IS as they are capable of carrying out terror operations,' said Khashoggi, whose pan-Arab news channel is due to commence operations in November.

“If they have the opportunity with explosives, suicide bombers and other logistics ready they will target locations whether it's in Riyadh, downtown Manama, Moscow or even New York.

“If we go blind and ignore them, within a month they will strike.”

He said anyone who expressed support for IS, which has taken control of large parts of Iraq and Syria, should be investigated.

“All those who believe in their ideologies should be under scrutiny and prosecuted if there is evidence against them,” he said.

However, he suggested the first target should be removing Syrian President Bashar Al Assad before countering IS.

“We in Saudi Arabia support moderate rebels but there is no clear line in Syria,” he said.

“Today's moderates could be tomorrow's extremists.

“Syria is a jungle and arming rebels will not help as the target should be Bashar.”

One of the two speakers at the event yesterday was Prague-based Metropolitan University Department of International Relations and European Studies head Dr Mitchell Belfer.

“It was a right thing to do for Bahrain to join the anti-IS coalition and even take part in air strikes led by the US,” said Dr Belfer.

He listed IS as being one of several major threats facing Bahrain and GCC countries, along with the Shi'ite militant movement in Iraq, Hizbollah and the Iranian Quds Force, turmoil in Syria, the growth of Iran and fragmentation of Iraq into several unstable small states.

Dr Belfer suggested it was time for Bahrain to forge allegiances with new allies in Asia, such as Azerbaijan.

“One should not overlook the rise of Russia, China and Iran who are likely to interfere in the affairs of small rather than larger states,” he said.

A speech was also delivered by His Majesty King Hamad's Adviser for Diplomatic Affairs and Derasat board of trustees chairman Dr Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar, who said changes witnessed in the Arab world since 2011 required a rethink by policymakers,

“Small states have to strengthen their internal front and also deal with external threats that require them to co-operate with regional alliances for self-defence,” said Dr Ghaffar.

The other speaker during the one-day event was King College's Department of Defence Studies assistant professor Dr Jean-Marc Rickli, who gave a presentation on Europe-Gulf defence expenditure and defence options. - TradeArabia News Service