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Iraq asks Saudi Arabia to replace envoy who riled Shiite militias

Riyadh reopens its embassy in Baghdad in December after around 26 years

By Reuters - Aug 28,2016 - Last updated at Aug 28,2016

This file photo taken on January 14 released by the official website of the Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari shows him (right) meeting with the new Saudi Ambassador to Iraq Thamer Al Sabhan in the capital Baghdad (AFP photo)

BAGHDAD — Iraq asked Saudi Arabia on Sunday to replace its ambassador in Baghdad after his comments about Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs and the alleged persecution of Sunni Muslims angered local Shiite Muslim politicians and militia leaders.

Riyadh only reopened its embassy in Baghdad in December after keeping it shut since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Thamer Al Sabhan was the first Saudi ambassador appointed since the reopening, which was seen as heralding closer cooperation in the fight against Daesh militants who control swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and have claimed bombings in Saudi Arabia.

“The presence of Sabhan is an obstacle to the development of relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia,” Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Jamal said in comments to Al Aahd, a TV channel that belongs to Iranian-backed Shiite militia Asaib Ahl Al Haq.

He tweeted that the ministry was “asking its Saudi counterpart to replace the ambassador of the Saudi Arabian Kingdom in Baghdad”.

Iraqi Shiite politicians and militias have made persistent calls to expel Sabhan, who has been calling on the Iraqi government to exclude Shiite paramilitary groups from its military campaign against the Daesh terror group in order to avoid abuses against Sunnis in Iraq.

The Iraqi foreign ministry denied on Monday that a plot to kill the envoy had been uncovered.

In recent days, Sabhan repeatedly spoke of a “terrorist plot” to assassinate him after a Shiite militia leader, Aws Al Khafaji, said in an interview with a local Iraqi channel that killing the envoy would be an “honour”.

 Sabhan, responding to messages expressing solidarity with him after the Iraqi announcement, tweeted: “I am a servant of this [Saudi] leadership which is seeking to assist the truth and the well being of Muslims, may God preserve it.” 

In an interview on the Dubai-based Al Arabiya News Channel, he said Saudi Arabia’s policies on Iraq would not change.

 

“We have a very amicable relationship with Iraqi politicians that the media does not depict,” he added.

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