News Analysis: Forming anti-terror joint Arab force faces challenges

The creation of a unified Arab military force to counter the growing terrorism in the region will face many political and military challenges, experts said.

The Arab national security and forming a multinational anti-terror Arab force will top the agenda of the Arab League (AL) during the Arab Summit meeting that will be held on March 28 and 29 in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

"Forming such a force is really difficult under the umbrella of the Arab League," Cairo-based political analyst Saeed Lawendy told Xinhua.

The expert said it requires the activation of the Joint Arab Defense and Economic Cooperation Treaty signed back in 1950 by AL member states, adding that the activation needs a consensus vote of all signatory states.

"This is unlikely to happen since there are some Arab countries who oppose a military interference in other countries facing terrorism, such as Qatar, Sudan and Algeria," he said.

Ties between Egypt and Qatar, a firm supporter of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group, have been deteriorating since the military ouster of Morsi in July 2013, following massive protests against his one-year rule.

Recently, AL Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby called for the creation a unified Arab force and the activation of the mutual defense treaty to fight terrorism, mainly the Islamic State (IS) group, which has seized large areas in Libya, Iraq and Syria.

The goal of that treaty was countering the threats of strong neighboring Israel. The Joint Arab Agreement has been frozen since it was signed.

For only once, that agreement has been activated during the war of liberating Kuwait of the Iraqi invasion in 1991.

However, the formation of the new unified Arab army unit is mainly meant to combat the rising Islamist terrorism in the region and avoid the collapse of governments in Arab countries suffering from terrorism and turmoil, such as Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

The idea of forming the multinational force was initiated by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to face common challenges that threaten Arab national security. His initiative came after 25 Egyptian Copts were killed in Libya by IS militants in February.

Lawendy also said raising the issue of forming a unified Arab force during the meetings of the summit will create a rift between the opponents and supporters when the Arabs need to take further steps to coordinate their positions and unite.

"This is unnecessary because the Arabs need no more divisions... the best solution is to form such a force away from the Arab League," he suggested.

Sisi's proposal of creating an Arab force is supported by Egypt's close allies, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan.

"Some other countries might oppose the idea for their poor economic and military capabilities," Lawendy added.

The proposal might also be opposed by some foreign countries like the United States which "always works hard to keep the Arabs disunited to keep the power balance in Israel's favor," he pointed out.

Although the AL has a negative reputation among Arab peoples to be insignificant and inactive, it had, sometimes, played main roles in many Arab crises, especially after the Arab spring, mainly in Libya when it gave the green light to a Western military intervention in Libya that helped topple Muammar Qaddafi.

Theoretically, the idea to have an Arab force and then an Arab army is good, but practically it is hard to happen within the league, this should be discussed and implemented outside the walls of the AL, Lawendy noted.

In addition to political challenges, there might be some military and logistic problems that may stand against the creation of the unified Arab force.

Retired Egyptian army General Talaat Musallam told Xinhua that the spread and the power of the well-trained and organized terrorist groups in the region will make it a bit difficult for any Arab force to yield fast positive results.

He suggested that the force will mainly depend on limited special forces and multilateral rapid deployment troops that are skilled in street battles.

"This is available in a few countries such Egypt, and this is why the Arab countries should prepare such troops just right after making the decision to form the force," he said.

He expected that Egypt, the strongest army in the Arab world and one of the top 20 strongest armies in the world, would be the skeleton of this force.

He also urged that all Arab countries should take part in such a force because the Egyptian army has many internal tasks such as securing its extended land and maritime borders as well as countering the growing terrorism in Sinai Peninsula which has recently spread to other Egyptian cities including Cairo.

Musallam also expected that some Arab countries, which have Western agendas, might work hard to hinder the formation of this form.

The United States for sure will also oppose forming this force that might be the seed for a bigger strong army that can pose threats to the security of its close ally Israel, he added.

But the Arabs have to face all these challenges to have a unified army that would be able to defend all Arab nations of the terror threats, we should move to eliminate terror before it reaches other countries, he noted. Endit