Saudi Arabia on Friday listed the Muslim Brotherhood and two Syrian jihadist groups as terrorist organisations and ordered citizens fighting abroad to return within 15 days or face imprisonment, state TV reported.
The latest move represents a major escalation against the Muslim Brotherhood of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and indicates rising concern in Riyadh over the possible return of battle-hardened Saudis extremists from Syria. In addition to the Muslim Brotherhood, Saudi listed Al-Nusra Front, which is Al-Qaeda’s official Syrian affiliate, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the levant (ISIl), a rogue group fighting in both Syria and Iraq, as terrorist organisations.
It also listed as terrorist groups the Shia Huthi rebels fighting in northern Yemen and a little-known internal Shiite group called Hezbollah in the Hijaz.
Saudi and other conservative Gulf monarchies have long been hostile towards the Muslim Brotherhood, fearing that its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine their authority.