Saudi defence minister calls Iraq ‘cherished neighbour’ after strikes

Saudi Arabia’s defence minister called Iraq a “cherished neighbour” in talks with a senior Iraqi army official on Thursday, despite last month’s deadly US-Saudi strikes on targets in the country.

The Riyadh visit was the first announced by an Iraqi security official to Saudi Arabia since Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s trip to the kingdom was cancelled after the strikes on July 29.

Officials from the Hashed al-Shaabi, an armed Iraqi alliance also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces and that includes pro-Iran groups, said the US-Saudi strikes killed 20 militants, including five Iranians.

Riyadh said its forces had intercepted drones targeting oil facilities, blaming Iran-backed groups in Iraq for the attacks.

“Iraq will remain a cherished neighbour, we share bonds of brotherhood, solidarity, and mutual support with its government and its brotherly people. The Kingdom will always stand by Iraq to support its security, stability, development, and prosperity, for the benefit of Iraq and its brotherly people,” Khalid bin Salman wrote, in a post on X.

He added that he had met with director of Iraq’s Office of the Commander in Chief Abdul Amir Al-Shammari, saying the pair “reviewed Saudi-Iraqi relations in the military and defence sectors” and discussed developments in the Middle East.

“We also emphasised the importance of continued coordination and cooperation between our two countries to serve our mutual interests and ensure the region’s security and stability,” he wrote.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an alliance of Tehran-backed groups, had vowed to retaliate to the strikes, but last week announced they would postpone their response.

The first high-level meeting between Saudi Arabia and Iraq since the strikes took place last week between their foreign ministers on the sidelines of a meeting in Jordanian capital Amman.

The strikes came as Baghdad faces growing pressure from Washington to disarm pro-Iran armed groups, which have targeted US facilities hundreds of times during the Middle East war.

Zaidi, who came to power this year with Washington’s blessing, vowed to ensure those groups would hand over their weapons, but has faced pushback from some powerful factions.

Washington and Tehran are Iraq’s main allies, but their enmity has long turned the country into a proxy battleground and left successive governments struggling to maintain a delicate balance between the foes.

AFP

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