Saudi troops amass on Iraq border

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia deployed 30,000 soldiers to its border with Iraq after Iraqi soldiers abandoned the area, Saudi-owned al Arabiya television said on Thursday, but Baghdad denied this and said the frontier remained under its full control.

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 that Saudi troops fanned into the border region after Iraqi forces withdrew from positions, leaving the frontiers unprotected.

The Iraqi prime minister’s military spokesman denied the forces had withdrawn. “This is false news aimed at affecting the morale of our people,” Lieutenant General Qassim Atta told reporters in Baghdad.

He said the frontier, which runs through largely empty desert, was ‘fully in the grip’ of Iraqi border troops. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2014.