Former Pak Army chief Raheel Sharif named chief of Islamic military coalition

Former chief of army staff (COAS) General (retd) Raheel Sharif on Friday was appointed as the chief of Islamic military alliance and posted in Saudi Arabia, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said.

According to Express Tribune, the defence minister announced the new development on Geo TV and stated that an agreement had been finalised a few days back

The minister that Raheel, who retired in November 2016, was posted after being cleared by the army's General Headquarters in accordance with the government's will.

"This thing was in the pipeline for quite some time and the prime minister was also part of the deliberations," Asif said.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia had announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism and Pakistan was made a member of the coalition.

Riyadh and its Gulf Arab neighbours have been locked in months of warfare with Iran-allied rebels in neighbouring Yemen, launching hundreds of air strikes there.

This alliance was announced with the Islamic State pledging to overthrow the monarchies of the Gulf and mounting a series of attacks on Shia Muslim mosques and security forces in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.