Off the wire
• China regulator punishes Evergrande Life for irregular stock trading  • Feature: Namibian slum dwellers yearn for stable, reliable electricity  • BRICS bank loans favor technological innovation projects: vp  • Eight suffer serious burns in restaurant gas cylinder blast in Bangladesh capital  • Xinhua Insight: The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei dream is becoming a reality  • Dhaka Apparel Summit 2017 aims at securing more sustainable apparel supply chain  • Feb. 25 medal table at Asian Winter Games  • Arsonists burned bank in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia  • Medalists on Feb. at Asian Winter Games  • Commentary: How China will win its war on poverty  
You are here: 　 Home

Iraqi PM meets Saudi FM in Baghdad over anti-IS fighting

Xinhua, February 25, 2017 Adjust font size:

Iraqi Prime Minister Hadier al-Abadi on Saturday met with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, who paid an official visit to Baghdad, to discuss boosting bilateral ties and to support Iraq in its fighting against Islamic State (IS) group in the northern city of Mosul, The Iraqi government said.

In a statement by his office, Abadi received in his office the Saudi Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir and the two sides "discussed means to enhance bilateral relations in all fields, in addition to the fight against terrorist gang of Daesh (IS group) and recent push of the Iraqi forces into the right side (western bank) of Mosul."

For his part, Jubeir confirmed his country's "support to the Iraq in fighting against terrorism and expressed the readiness of Saudi Arabia to support restoring stability in the liberated areas," according to the statement.

The visiting Saudi minister also met with his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari and discussed "cooperation between the two countries, who are trying to resolve the problems that the whole region is suffering from," the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement.

Jubeir said that his visit to Baghdad comes "to restore the bilateral ties between the two countries back on track," asserting that his country "stands at the same distance from all the Iraqi factions, and supports the unity and stability of Iraq," the ministry statement said.

Jubeir's visit also came as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from their major stronghold in the western side of Mosul in northern Iraq.

His visit is the first for a Saudi official on his level to the Iraqi capital in decades, as the relations between the two countries deteriorated since 1991 when the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

Saudi Arabia reopened its embassy in Baghdad early in 2016 after 25 years, but months later the Iraqi government asked for the Saudi ambassador Thamer al-Sabhan to be replaced.

Baghdad's request came after Sabhan made comments on his Twitter account, in which he accused Iraq of being too close to Shiite Iran, in addition to his comments about a "terrorist plot" to assassinate him by powerful Shiite militia, led by Aws al-Khafaji. But Baghdad denied his accusations.

The request to replace Sabhan reflects the deep sectarian division between the Sunni regional power, led by Saudi Arabia, and the Shiite regional power, led by Iran, amid increasing bloody conflicts such as in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Endit