Baghdad: In an interview with Iraq’s Al Sumaria TV on Saturday, Saudi Ambassador to Iraq Thamer Al Sabhan said the Hashid Shaabi, a coalition of mostly Iranian-backed Shiite paramilitary groups set up in 2014 to fight Daesh, should leave the fight against the militants to Iraq’s army and official security forces in order to avoid aggravating sectarian tensions.
The reopening in December of the Saudi embassy in Baghdad, closed in 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait, was seen as heralding closer cooperation in the fight against Daesh, which controls territory in Iraq and in Syria and has claimed bombings in Saudi Arabia. Shiite parliamentarians rejected Al Sabhan’s comments and called on the government to summon him.
