Satellite images have revealed the destruction by Islamic State of the iconic 2,000-year-old Bel temple in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra just five days before US president Barack Obama is due to receive King Salman of Saudi Arabia, the progenitor of Islamic State and similar movements destabilising countries across the globe. Saudi Arabia's puritan Wahhabi doctrine is the font of IS beliefs.
The Saudi religious establishment, which partners the monarchy, preaches strict adherence to Wahhabi ideology, which emerged in the 18th century when Mohamed ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) launched a puritanical revivalist movement in the central region of the country and formed an alliance with tribal leader Mohamed bin Saud. His successors not only sustained but reinforced the relationship and, this year, declared Wahhabism not only the Saudi state religion but the official version of Islam.
Since the 1970s, Saudi Arabia has spent more than $100 billion exporting Wahhabism to worldwide Muslim communities, including those in the west. This process has been implemented primarily by funding of mosques and madrassas and providing preachers and by indoctrinating Arabs, Asians and Africans working in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries.
This campaign has been highly successful. Wahhabism has proliferated and led to the rise of a host of al-Qaeda-style movements and affiliates in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Non-political sufis (mystics) who formerly propagated the faith in Africa have been pushed aside and replaced by salafi (ultra-orthodox) Wahhabis.
IS also mimics Saudi treatment of citizens who do not toe its ideological line or commit crimes.
According to a report issued on August 25th by Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia beheaded 175 people between August 2014 and June of this year, "an average execution rate of one person every two days".
So far in 2015, the Saudis have decapitated at least 110 people while IS has beheaded 65 – and shot, crucified, buried alive and immolated many more. Both Saudi Arabia and IS impose floggings on dissidents and people who do not adhere to Wahhabi practices. Religious police reign supreme in Saudi Arabia and IS-controlled communities.
Saudi Arabia has not only destroyed pre-Islamic sites but those associated with the early days of Islam, a practice IS has followed in Syria and Iraq by destroying ancient temples, mosques, churches, tombs and mausoleums, some associated with the companions of the Prophet Muhammad.
Salman will arrive in the White House with an agenda. He seeks to stiffen US resolve to take a hard line with Iran when implementing the deal over limiting Tehran's nuclear programme. He also wants US help in combatting Iran's interventions in the affairs of the region.
Salman calls for increased US military support for Gulf Co-operation Council countries and deliveries of state-of-the-art military hardware to provide security against Iran once sanctions are lifted. Salman also seeks beefed-up US support for the Saudi war in Yemen and the drive to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
However, if the destruction of the region's cultural heritage is to cease and the flow of refugees to slow, Obama will have to talk tough to Salman, demanding that his country and citizens cease financial support for IS and that his government put pressure on Qatar and Turkey to follow suit.
Obama must also make it clear that the US-led coalition – apparently hobbled by the Saudis – intends to step up air action in Syria and Iraq against IS and to attack IS forces when confronting the Syrian and Iraqi armies.
Over the past year, air strikes have been largely pointless as IS remains firmly fixed in Raqqa, Deir al-Zor and Palmyra in Syria and Mosul, Ramadi, and Falluja in Iraq.