Ankara - Arab Today
Turkey's Anadolu news agency has called Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, the “Prince of War on Terror.”
Since his appointment as crown prince in April 2015, Prince Mohammed bin Naif has been assisting Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman in formulating and implementing the Kingdom’s policies on internal and external fronts, the news agency said.
“The speech of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Naif at the United Nation General Assembly session last month — in which he revealed that Saudi Arabia had conducted 100 anti-terror operations since 1992, and foiled 268 terrorist attacks, including against friendly states — showed that the crown prince is one of the most prominent ‘leaders of the war on terrorism’ in Saudi Arabia and the world,” the agency said in a recent profile on the crown prince.
The agency noted that the crown prince’s recent visit to Turkey, on the direction of King Salman, is part of Prince Mohammed’s role to strengthen and develop his country’s relations with brotherly and friendly countries.
It added that the crown prince represented the Kingdom in international forums and conferences, including the 71st annual session of the United Nations General Assembly, which was held in New York in September, and led the Saudi delegation at the US-Gulf summit at Camp David on May 13-14, 2015 at the invitation of President Barack Obama.
“Prince Mohammed was appointed assistant minister of interior for security affairs in 1999. In 2004, he was appointed to the rank of minister where he oversaw the implementation of the Kingdom’s successful counter-terrorism campaign,” Anadolu said.
“Prince Mohammed was the one who first set up the Counseling Committees in the Kingdom and the Gulf countries in 2005 — a step that was applauded by the West.”
It pointed out that the Counseling Committees are rehabilitation centers, which counter extremist ideology through exposure to traditional mainstream Islamic teachings. The counseling program is meant to rehabilitate and integrate people with extremist thoughts back into the community.
“Prince Muhammad himself was a target of terrorists. He survived an assassination attempt when a wanted militant who was supposed to be surrendering himself to the prince, blew himself up. The prince was slightly injured,” the agency added. “Due to Prince Mohammed’s counter-terrorism efforts, American NBC network described him as the General of War on Terror.”
Source: Arab News