Saudi Arabia seeks to destabilize Iraq: Analyst

Saudi Arabia seeks to destabilize Iraq by propping up extremist terrorist groups in the country, a political analyst tells Press TV.

 “The al-Qaeda in Iraq has been dramatically bolstered. It has gained ground in terms of its power, prowess and influence in Iraq and that is all because of the arming, funding and salaries paid and logistical support given by Saudi Arabia mainly and Qatar,” said Zayd al-Isa in a Friday interview.

The analyst argued that Saudi rulers “desperately need to see a “sectarian” war” in both Iraq and Syria “in order to stave off the internal popular uprising and to tell their people that it is engaged in confronting and combating an existential major threat [and] make it very difficult and extremely hard for their people to stand up and defy the [Riyadh] regime.”

The remarks come as a spate of terrorist attacks continues to claim lives across Iraq

On Friday, 38 people were killed and 29 others injured in a bomb attack near a cafe in Iraq’s northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

On Thursday, a wave of attacks in Iraq, mostly targeting security forces and citizens, killed at least 39 people and injured dozens more, across the country.

Iraq has seen a surge in violence since the start of the year, with the UN reporting that more than 2,500 people were killed from April through June, the highest level since 2008.

Earlier this month, UN Special Representative to Iraq Martin Kobler advised Iraq’s leaders to hold meetings to address the country’s problems, including the recent wave of car bomb attacks.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that militant groups and the remnants of the former  regime are responsible for the latest wave of violence in the country.

 M.D