Posted inPolitics & Economics

Saudi Arabia deploys 30,000 soldiers to border with Iraq

Dubai-based satellite channel Al Arabiya said the move comes after Iraqi soldiers withdrew, leaving the border unguarded.

Saudi soldiers deploy near the border with Yemen in the desert region of Khuba
Saudi soldiers deploy near the border with Yemen in the desert region of Khuba

Saudi Arabia has deployed 30,000 soldiers to its
border with Iraq after Iraqi soldiers withdrew from the area, Saudi-owned
Al Arabiya television said on Thursday.

The world’s top oil exporter shares an 800km border with Iraq, where Islamic State insurgents and other Sunni
Muslim militant groups seized towns and cities in a lightning advance last
month.

King Abdullah has ordered all necessary measures to
protect the kingdom against potential “terrorist threats”, state news
agency SPA reported on Thursday.

The Dubai-based Al Arabiya said on its website that
Saudi troops fanned into the border region after Iraqi government forces
abandoned positions, leaving the Saudi and Syrian frontiers unprotected.

The satellite channel said it had obtained a video
showing some 2,500 Iraqi soldiers in the desert area east of the Iraqi city of
Karbala after pulling back from the border.

An officer in the video aired by Al Arabiya said
that the soldiers had been ordered to quit their posts without justification.
The authenticity of the recording could not immediately be verified.

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