Saudi report: Terror cell had Syria base Tue May 8,
6:33 PM ET

RIYADH, Saudi – One of seven recently exposed Saudi
terrorist cells used Syria as a base for coordinating
with al-Qaida in Iraq and held training camps in the
desert of neighboring Yemen, a newspaper owned by
Saudi Arabia’s royal family said Tuesday.

The report in Al-Watan provided the first new details
since Saudi authorities announced last month that
security forces had broken up the biggest terror plot
ever uncovered in the kingdom.

The government said a monthslong sweep had netted 172
alleged Islamic militants, some of whom trained abroad
as pilots for using aircraft in attacks. The militants
were said to have been organized into seven cells.

“One of the uncovered cells used Syria as a `safe
house’ for meetings and coordination with active
elements of al-Qaida in Iraq,” Al-Watan said. “The
houses were used for recruiting and testing loyalties
of new members, most of whom were youngsters.”

Al-Watan provided no source for its report. In Syria,
officials were not immediately available for comment
on the newspaper’s claim.

U.S. officials have accused Syrian authorities of
allowing militants to cross into Iraq to join the
insurgency. The Damascus regime has denied that,
saying it tries to police the long border.

Al-Watan paper said the terror cell, described as the
most dangerous of the seven, also had members train in
camps in a mountainous area in Yemen close to the
Saudi border.

“The extremist group exploited the absence of any
Yemeni authorities’ control over this region and held
permanent camps there. Selected members crossed the
border in groups of three to four for training,”
Al-Watan said.

Saudi authorities said in April that the sweep
thwarted a militant plots to mount air attacks on the
kingdom’s oil refineries, break extremists out of
prison and send suicide attackers to kill government
officials.

Saudi Arabia’s long alliance with the United States
angers Saudi extremists, especially al-Qaida leader
Osama bin Laden, who was born here. Fifteen of the
19 airline hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks on the
U.S. were from Saudi Arabia.

An austere strain of Islam known as Wahhabism is
followed by the country’s predominantly Sunni Muslim
population, and militant groups have attracted Saudi
recruits with extremist leanings.