The Saudi royal family are building a 600-mile barrier to fortify the northern frontier of their kingdom.
The
fence and ditch, punctuated with radar surveillance towers, command
centres and guard posts, aims to protect the Saudis' oil-rich territory
from invasion by the Islamic State insurgency
Saudi
Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud inaugurated the first phase
of the border security project in September 2014 , soon after Islamic State's
Sunni insurgency swept across Iraq.
The
multi-layered barrier, which will eventually stretch across the
Saudi-Iraq border from Jordan to Kuwait, includes 78 monitoring towers,
eight command centres, 10 mobile surveillance vehicles, 32
rapid-response centres, and three rapid intervention squads
Citing a
promotional video, the defence industry magazine reported the
six-mile-deep barrier consists of a ditch, two fences and a patrol road
connecting the watchtowers and guard rooms.
The video included footage
of thermal imagers and battlefield radar systems that can detect
individuals at up to 12 miles away and vehicles at up to 24 miles away.
Islamic
State sees Saudi Arabia's links to the West as a betrayal of Islam and
has called for 'lone-wolf' attacks against Saudi security forces, the
Shi'ite Muslim minority and foreigners.
Saudi
forces have joined U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State positions
in Syria and mobilised conservative Sunni clergy to describe the
ideology of the al Qaeda offshoot as deviant.
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