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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has termed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, a decision seen by observers as a "serious attempt" to back Egypt in combating terrorism.
"It is a positive move and direct support for Egypt in a time the most populous Arab country wages a war to uproot the terrorist groups, the Muslim Brotherhood in particular," said Yousry al- Azabawy, a political analyst with Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies.
Egypt has been rocked by a series of bombings and shootings carried out by Islamist militants and Jihadists since the military ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July last year. Since then, Egypt has launched massive security operations to eradicate the strongholds of terrorism basically in Sinai Peninsula.
The UAE's decision signals "a quantum leap forward in the fight against terrorism" in Egypt as it came from an economic power at the regional and international levels, Azabawy told Xinhua.
The UAE issued on Saturday a list of 83 Islamist groups, which it classified as "terrorist organizations", including the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, Sinai-based Al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis and Ajnad Masr groups, which launch attacks against the Egyptian army and police forces.
It also blacklisted Al-Qaida and the Islamic State (IS), as well as Yemen's Shiite Houthi militia. The move echoes a similar one by Saudi Arabia in March and "could increase pressure on Qatar whose backing for the Brotherhood has sparked a row with fellow Gulf monarchies," Azabawy added.
Qatar has been seen supportive of the Brotherhood. It has given sanctuary to some Brotherhood members following the ouster of Morsi, which strained the two countries relations.
However, Qatar recently has ordered some Brotherhood figures to leave its land, and some Qatari diplomats promised that the Brotherhood would not be allowed to appear on Doha-based Al Jazeera news channel.
Qatar's recent moves against the Brotherhood helped ease the tensions with its fellow Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, who decided on Sunday to reinstate their ambassadors to the Gulf state, after an eight-month disagreement.
"The UAE's move would push other member countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to take the same stand, which means besieging the terrorist groups that had depended for almost a half century on the unlimited support and fund from extremist groups and some international and Gulf systems," the political analyst illustrated.
According to Azabawy, drying up the sources of funding terrorist groups, which all share the same religious ideology, will eventually eliminate extremism.
Gulf monarchies see religious extremism as "a threat to their influence" and eventually see the stability of Egypt and its success of uprooting terrorism will stabilize the region, Azabawy explained.
The UAE decision is even "a strong message" from a strong oil country to the United States, which calls for integrating the Brotherhood in Egypt's political life, to aid Egypt in fighting terrorism, the analyst added.
On Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Aaty said that Egypt welcomes the UAE's decision, underscoring the importance of intensifying efforts of the regional countries to counter terrorism as a world phenomenon which targets stability and security across the globe.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been blacklisted by the Egyptian authorities as a terrorist group last February, and its members were also banned by a court ruling in April from running in the presidential and parliamentary elections.
"The stance of the UAE will represent a severe blow to the Brotherhood and its offshoot groups which seek to undermine Egypt' s security and hinder the moves of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was the military chief when the army removed the Islamist leader," said security expert Mohamed Ali.
Funds generated from the Gulf states are vital source for financing the Brotherhood, Wahabi and other Jihadist groups in the region, he added.
Ali reiterated the UAE's decision came in compliance with Egyptian and Saudi decisions which have previously blacklisted the same Islamist groups, considering the move as "serious step from an influential Gulf country that would encourage other Arab and even western countries to back Egypt in fighting extremism." Enditem
