Saudi Ideological War Centre takes battle online

As part of its efforts to counter extremist ideology spread via social media, Saudi Arabia has launched the Ideological War Centre (IWC), a body that will use sharia to refute extremist rhetoric, Saudi experts tell Al-Mashareq.

The Saudi Ministry of Defence launched the IWC in early May, with backing from Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman.

The centre commenced operations by offering content in three languages -- Arabic, English and French -- in an attempt to reach a wide audience.

"The importance of the ideological centre lies in the fact that it is mainly active on social media," said King Saud University professor Salman Dahi, who specialises in the evolution of social media.

Social media is a powerful tool, through which extremist groups seek to spread their extremist ideology among young people, he told Al-Mashareq.

"The time has come to confront the terrorist groups with the same weapons they fight with, seeing as these groups rely heavily on online teams to disseminate terrorist ideology, and ultimately recruit for these groups," he said.

Al-Dahi said the IWC will employ clerics who specialise in sharia-based responses to fix the distortion of Islamic law by extremist groups such as the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.

These clerics must be capable of articulating their arguments clearly, and in a way that engages youth, he said.

Clerics have been working in partnership with youth groups at the centre to devise and post messages using straightforward language and high-quality content rich with images, videos and graphics, he said.

This is the same technique extremist groups use to attract attention, he added.

Exposing falsehoods

"The IWC can achieve tangible results if intellectual capacities and social media are exploited to disseminate ideas that counter terrorist ideology," said Fadel al-Hindi, a supervisor at King Abdulaziz University's Centre for Social and Humanities Research.

The timing of the centre's launch coincides with ISIS's loss of most of its territory in Syria and Iraq, he told Al-Mashareq.

Following the group's ouster from various areas, news is spreading of the atrocities it committed in the name of Islam, he said, adding that the group has exploited youth in a way that has "nothing whatsoever to do with Islam".

The ideological war against terrorism is no less important than the military war, said retired Saudi army officer and military attaché Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Shehri.

This is because if extremist groups are defeated militarily, he told Al-Mashareq, they will not be totally eradicated, and will continue to exist as long as they are able to penetrate societies with their ideology and distorted thinking.

As a subsidiary of the Ministry of Defence, he said, the IWC will be able to play a key role in the dissemination of counter-extremist ideology to refute the ideology promoted by terrorist groups.