British FM Accuses Saudi Arabia of ’Playing Proxy Wars’
Local Editor
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson accused Britain's ally, Saudi Arabia, of engaging in "proxy wars" in the Middle East.
He further accused the Saudi Kingdom of abusing Islam and acting as a puppeteer in proxy wars throughout the Middle East, in remarks that flout a longstanding Foreign Office convention not to criticize the UK's allies in public.
In this regard, The Guardian newspaper published footage in which Johnson talks of politicians "twisting and abusing religion" for political gain.
The Foreign Office said Saudi Arabia was an ally and the UK supported its efforts to secure its borders.
In the footage from last week, Johnson said: "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives."
"That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region. And the tragedy for me - and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area - is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."
The foreign secretary told the Med 2 conference in Rome there was a lack of "big characters" in the Middle East who were willing to bring people together.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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