An Iranian campaign to thwart Saudi investment plans in Iraq |

Baghdad – The Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia led by Qais Khazali launches a widespread media attack on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, accusing it of planning to seize large lands within four Iraqi provinces, while the Shiite public in Iraq is recording a negative interaction with this Iranian-backed campaign, calling for the expansion of foreign investments to save the country from its crisis Financial implicated by political Islam parties.

This comes at a time when coordination between Baghdad and Riyadh has reached very advanced stages, in preparation for the start of Saudi investments in Iraq worth about $ 3 billion, which will contribute to reviving the country’s economy and providing thousands of job opportunities for the unemployed.

Informed sources say that Saudi Arabia plans to launch huge agricultural projects in 4 Iraqi governorates, which are Anbar, Najaf, Muthanna and Basra.

Experts say that Saudi Arabia, which is accused by the Iraqi media affiliated with Iran of terrorism and anti-Shiism, is quietly refuting these allegations by choosing 3 Shiite regions out of 4 in which to invest their money, where real job opportunities are expected and the wheel of the economy will move.

But Qais Khazali, who leads a militia that has been involved in sectarian violence since 2006, and who is under US sanctions for human rights violations, is leading a massive media campaign to thwart Saudi investment plans in Iraq.

Khazali declared, “his rejection of the Saudi regime’s attempts to seize large areas” in four Iraqi provinces.

Khazali said, “We reject the Saudi regime’s attempts to seize large areas of the lands of the governorates of Anbar, Najaf, Muthanna and Basra on the pretext of investment, because this project has very serious security threats by a regime that has many precedents in harming the security and stability of Iraq in issuing fatwas of atonement and sending hundreds of suicide bombers in addition. To intelligence and financial support ”.

He added, “In addition to the coincidence of this project with the normalization project (…), which is led and in fact supported by the Saudi regime, in addition to the economic damage that will be inflicted on Iraq’s strategic reserve of groundwater that these lands contain because of the quality of crops for which Iraq’s water is to be exploited.”

Khazali called on “all the elites of academics in various fields, our dear students and social actors, foremost among which are tribal leaders and respected leaders, as well as national political forces and personalities, to reject this malicious project and not allow it.”

Observers expect that the Shiite militias affiliated with Iran will organize demonstrations to reject Saudi investment plans in Iraq.

Naim Al-Aboudi, a deputy for the Asaib militia in the Iraqi parliament, speaks of “a Saudi project based on seizing large areas of Iraqi lands in Anbar, Najaf, Muthanna and Karbala under the pretext of their investment.”

“Because we know the intentions well and the danger this project implies on the land and people of Iraq, we reject it and call on the jealous Iraqis on their land to thwart it by all possible means,” Al-Aboudi said.

But Khazali’s speech and Al-Abboudi’s explanations were met with widespread ridicule among the Shiite youth, who are tired of the Iranian demonization campaigns of everything Saudi.

Many poor Shiite cities in the Shiite center and south are relying on Saudi investments to save them from their misery, even though they are floating on seas of oil.

Observers say that the most dangerous thing Iran fears is successful Saudi investments in Iraq that provide job opportunities and move the economy.

Iran does not want young Shiites in the center and the south to come into contact with any successful Arab or international investments that provide the experience of human life with a definition other than death in order to liberate Jerusalem or protect the Shiite sect.

Observers say that the misery experienced by many Shiite regions in Iraq is ideal for the Iranian project, because it facilitates the recruitment process and turns working in an armed militia into a dream for every unemployed young man whose family suffers to provide for the simplest requirements of life.

Tehran realizes that its claims about Riyadh are no longer fools the Shiites of Iraq, which is translated by the quality of interaction with the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq militia campaign against promising Saudi investments in impoverished southern Iraq.

Blogger Ali Mustafa was surprised by the use of the term “seizure” by Khazali and his deputies in the Iraqi parliament in describing Saudi investments, calling for attention to knowing the number of jobs that Saudi projects will provide, instead of working to incite public opinion against them.

Blogger Ahmed Al-Hashemi called Al-Asaib to present their alleged evidence of bad Saudi intentions in Iraq, or to avoid launching “sent words”, noting that Iraqis have lost confidence in “the entire political class.”

Observers say that the militia campaign against Saudi investments in Iraq may backfire, given the widespread discontent among Shiite youth about the state of absolute Iranian domination over the country’s capabilities, and the darkness of the fate that awaits them, in light of the stifling economic crisis, deepening the effects of the Corona pandemic.