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Iraq Conditionally Ready to Reconcile with Kuwait, Saudi
BAGHDAD, Aug 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq said Thursday it was ready to renew diplomatic relations with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia if they blocked U.S. and British warplanes access to facilities allowing them to enforce imposed no-fly zones over Iraqi territory, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"Iraq in principle wants to broaden relations with all Gulf countries, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told the weekly al-Zawra newspaper.
"For that to happen, the Kuwaiti and Saudi governments must take concrete steps to prove their good intentions and stop financing hostile acts undertaken by U.S. and British forces against Iraq," Sabri said.
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia "must stop these forces using their bases and give up welcoming and financing gangs of mercenaries looking to interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq," he said.
Baghdad frequently rails against Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for allowing U.S. and British planes to use bases on their territory to help impose no-fly zones put in place in the north and south of the country after the 1991 Gulf War.
Earlier on Friday, U.S and British warplanes carried out six sorties from Saudi airspace, backed by AWACS surveillance planes, and 23 sorties from Kuwaiti airspace, supported by an E-2C surveillance plane.
A senior Saudi official, however, denied on August 9th, that U.S. and British war planes based in the kingdom took part in air raids on Iraq, saying their flying mission was limited solely to "surveillance", news agencies reported.
Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz denied reports that military aircraft carrying out strikes on Iraq had set off from Saudi territory, the Saudi newspaper Arab News said.
"The mission of the planes that take off from the kingdom and countries in the region is limited to surveillance and maintaining security," he told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
"They are strictly forbidden to carry out the smallest military operation," Prince Sultan said.
Refusing to recognize the zones, which are not covered by any U.N. resolution, Iraq challenges the U.S. and British over flights, resulting in clashes, which according to Baghdad, have cost 326 Iraqi lives since 1998.
Diplomatic relations between Iraq and the Gulf monarchies, with the exception of Oman, were broken after Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Three countries - Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - have since reestablished diplomatic relations with Baghdad.
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