Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir made a rare visit to Baghdad yesterday in a new attempt to enhance the kingdom’s relations with Iraq.
Improving relations between Riyadh and Baghdad would help foster reconciliation between Iraq’s communities in the period after Islamic State’s defeat.
A US-backed campaign has forced out Islamic State from most Iraqi cities it captured in 2014 and the ultra-hardline group is now fighting off an offensive in its last major city stronghold, Mosul, in northern Iraq.
Iran, by leveraging its ties with Iraq’s Shias, has emerged as the main power broker in Iraq after the United States withdrew its troops in 2011.
Jubeir told his counterpart, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi the kingdom plans to appoint a new ambassador, and would support resuming direct flights between the two countries, an Iraqi foreign ministry official said.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Jaafari, Jubeir stated Riyadh’s willingness to help bridge the sectarian divide.
“The kingdom stands at an equal distance from all Iraqis communities making up Iraq and supports the unity and stability of Iraq,” he told reporters.
“The visit is a Saudi attempt to balance Iran’s role in Iraq,” Ahmed Younis, a professor of international relations at the University of Baghdad, told Reuters.
Jubeir’s visit to Baghdad is the first by a Saudi foreign minister since 1990.
Iraq asked last summer Saudi Arabia to replace its ambassador, Thamer al-Sabhan, after his comments about Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs.
Sabhan was the first ambassador appointed by Saudi Arabia after it reopened its embassy in Baghdad, in December 2015, ending a 25-year break.
The reopening of the Saudi embassy in Baghdad, closed in 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait, was seen as heralding closer co-operation against Islamic State, which controls territory in Iraq and in Syria and has claimed bombings in Saudi Arabia.
A handout picture released by the Iraqi Prime Minister’s press office yesterday, shows Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi (right) meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in Baghdad.
