Patrick Cockburn accused Saudi Arabia of supporting extremist Islamist groups in the Syrian Civil War , writing : " In Syria , in early 2015 , it supported the creation of the Army of Conquest , primarily made up of the al-Qaeda affiliate the al-Nusra Front and the ideologically similar Ahrar al-Sham , which won a series of victories against the Syrian Army in Idlib province . " While the Saudi government denies claims that it exports religious or cultural extremism , it is argued that by its nature , Wahhabism encourages intolerance and promotes terrorism . Former CIA director James Woolsey described it as " the soil in which Al-Qaeda and its sister terrorist organizations are flourishing . " In 2015 , Sigmar Gabriel , Vice-Chancellor of Germany , accused Saudi Arabia of supporting intolerance and extremism , saying : " Wahhabi mosques are financed all over the world by Saudi Arabia . In Germany , many dangerous Islamists come from these communities . " In May 2016 , The New York Times editorialised that the kingdom allied to the U.S. had " spent untold millions promoting Wahhabism , the radical form of Sunni Islam that inspired the 9/11 hijackers and that now inflames the Islamic State " . Iranian Hamidreza Taraghi , a hard-line analyst with ties to Iran ’s supreme leader , Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , said , “ ISIS ideologically , financially and logistically is fully supported and sponsored by Saudi Arabia ... They are one and the same ”
9/11
September 11 attacks
State-sponsored terrorism