MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has slammed Saudi Arabia for supporting Middle Eastern terrorists, saying the policy has exacerbated the problems faced by Baghdad.
Speaking in an interview with al-Manar TV on Monday, the politician stressed that Saudi Arabia’s cherished dream to topple the regimes in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon will never come true.
Al-Maliki urged the country to stop funding and arming terrorists in Syria and warned that this policy will back fire on Saudi Arabia and its neighboring countries when the Syrian war bursts its banks and spreads to other regions.
The Prime Minister also called on Saudi Arabia to stop meddling with Iraq’s affairs and start respecting Iraqi interests.
Commenting on the Syrian crisis, al-Maliki stressed that the Syrian opposition was composed of criminals, terrorists and murderers and addressed the international community with a plea to help the Syrian government confront these terrorist organizations.
According to the Iraqi Prime Minister, a peaceful solution is the only possible way out of the ongoing civil war in Syria that has claimed the lives of over 150,000 people and driven a third of its entire population from their homes.
Al-Maliki’s relations with Saudi Arabia have always been strained. The Prime Minister has consistently come up with harsh remarks accusing Saudi Arabia with inciting and openly funding terrorist movements and seeking to destabilize Iraq.
Abdullateef Al-Zayani, the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Countries, has repeatedly condemned al-Maliki’s allegations against Saudi Arabia, calling them irresponsible and in defiance of political and diplomatic norms.
