Qaeda head criticises Saudi support to Egypt

A top Saudi member of Al-Qaeda slammed King Abdullah's support for the Egyptian army's ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, in a video message posted online Sunday. "One of their latest crimes is supporting the secular forces in Egypt against the government of Morsi," Ibrahim al-Rubaish said in a statement. Rubaish is considered the religion affairs chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based franchise of the jihadist network, formed in a 2009 merger of its Saudi and Yemeni branches. "The son of Saud was the first to offer congratulations after the fall of the government of Morsi, and the most generous supporter, offering billions to the Tamarod government that rebelled against everything, including Allah," he said. Tamarod, or rebellion in Arabic, was the movement behind nationwide protests that preceded the Egypt military intervention to depose Morsi on July 3. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states welcomed Egypt's ouster of Morsi, with Riyadh announcing an aid package of $5 billion to Egypt. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates followed suit, bringing the pledges made by the three oil-rich Arab states of the Gulf to $12 billion. Analysts say Riyadh and its allies are throwing their financial and diplomatic muscle behind Egypt's army-installed rulers because they see the political Islam espoused by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood as a destabilising factor.