Iran and Saudi Arabia struggle to achieve better relations

Iran and Saudi Arabia are competitors for influence in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia also represents Sunni influence in the area while Iran is a prime supporter of Shia groups. Lately, the rise of the Islamic State, both in Syria and especially in Iraq, has created common areas of interest that may lead to improved relations. The recent attack by the Islamic State on a Saudi border post showed the Saudis the degree to which the Islamic State was becoming a threat to the kingdom. The attack killed two border guards and also the commanding officer. The attackers included three Saudi nationals.

The Saudis have decided to reopen their embassy in Baghdad, establishing relations with a country that has close relations with Iran and has a Shia majority. The new Iraqi government is reaching out to Sunni powers such as the Saudis in the hope of getting support from them to help fight IS in return for more accommodation of Sunni interests within the Shia majority government. The Saudis have an interest in cooperating with Iran to meet the IS threat in Iraq. The Iran Daily noted that differences between Iran and the Saudis were not so substantial that they could not be resolved. The paper also claimed that the Islamic State "could jeopardize the system of government in Saudi Arabia." The drive to improve relations between the two countries is supported by prominent religious authorities as described in detail in this article in Al-Monitor :"Al-Monitor learned from a religious source close to Ali al-Sistani in Najaf that Sistani has a similar vision regarding the necessity of a rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, since both countries face the common threat of Salafist jihadism as represented by the Islamic State (IS). Iraqi President Fouad Massoum visited Najaf Nov. 11 to meet with Sistani before embarking on a formal visit to Saudi Arabia. Sistani praised the Iraqi government’s efforts to improve its regional relations and called for the strengthening of ties with all neighboring countries. The Saudi king praised Sistani’s great positions, and expressed his wishes for further unity and consistency among the different components in Iraq." Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani is one of the most influential clerical leaders in Iraq.

 Of course, there are many issues that divide Iran and the Saudis. Iran supports the Assad regime in Syria and also the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, while the Saudis oppose Assad and have aided rebel groups against him. In Yemen, Iran has supported the Shia Houthi rebels who have vastly increased their influence and area they control in the country, whereas the Saudis support Mansour Hadi the prime minister and the Sunni majority. However, the Saudis might decide to gain the support of Iran to pressure the Houthis to negotiate with the Sunni government an end to their continuing expansion. The unrest is leading to more Sunnis allying with Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula which is a threat both to the Saudis and the Yemen government.

Another main issue between the two countries is the price of oil. Iran wants the Saudis to cut production to stem the steep drop in the price of oil. The decline is hurting the Iranians. Iran claims that ultimately it could hurt the Saudis, as there will not be sufficient funds for the government programs that generate support for the monarchy. A visit to Saudi Arabia planned by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif was postponed due to the disagreement over oil policy. An article by Fariborz Saremi in CounterPunch claims that the three main policy foreign policy objectives of Iran are survival of the regime, national security, and regional influence. The article details the many obstacles to improving relations between Iran and the Saudis. However, some Gulf States such as Kuwait and Oman have had reasonably good relations with Iran for some time. The threat of the Islamic State may provide grounds to begin a process of cooperation between the two countries which can serve as a spring-board to improved relations.

Iraqi security forces as well as Islamic State guilty of war crimes

While no doubt the scale of Islamic State(IS) crimes are greater than those of Iraq security forces, both groups are guilty of what can only be termed war crimes.

In the case of IS the group often posts graphic videos or photos of their horrific acts, whereas those of the Iraqi security forces are often not visible and certainly not advertised. Navi Pillay, the UN High Commission for Human Right claims that "horrific human rights violations" are being committed by IS on a daily basis. IS acts include mass executions. An earlier UN report this July claims: " Up to 670 prisoners from Badush prison in the city of Mosul were killed by ISIS on June 10 after being taken by truck to a vacant area and screened for non-Sunnis, she said, quoting survivors and witnesses to the "massacre" as telling U.N. human rights investigators. "Such cold-blooded, systematic and intentional killings of civilians, after singling them out for their religious affiliation, may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,"  

 Yet Iraqi security forces have engaged in somewhat similar actions. 70 Sunni prisoners were allegedly killed in crossfire when there was an ISIS attack on the convoy transporting them. The truth was quite different:The police confirmed to Reuters that no ISIS attack ever took place on the convoy, and that the police decided to just execute all of them to “prevent them from escaping.” Earlier the same week police shot 52 prisoners in Baquba on the same pretext: The Iraqi government continues to deny the killings, though police brag about them openly as a law and order measure. CNN reported on the killing of at least 44 prisoners at the Al Wahda police station. Police officials in Baquba told CNN that the prisoners were killed when ISIS militants fired mortar rounds into the prison. However, a health official claimed most prisoners were shot in the head and chest. None showed signs of being killed by an explosion as the police official claimed. 

 While the IS often boasts about its brutality and war crimes the Iraqi security forces try to cover them up. Iraq security forces have also been accused of violating the laws of war in their attacks on cities such as Fallujah that are occupied by IS. In Fallujah, Human Rights Watch reported in May: “The government has been firing wildly into Fallujah’s residential neighborhoods for more than four months, and ramped up its attacks in May. This reckless disregard for civilians is deadly for people caught between government forces and opposition groups.” Human Rights Watch also found evidence that Iraq was using barrel bombs. When Assad uses these in Syria it is denounced as a war crime. There was evidence as well that a hospital was targeted by Iraqi artillery and it was hit several times. The hospital treated some wounded opposition fighters.Fred Abrahams, special adviser at Human Rights Watch remarks: “The crimes by some opposition armed groups are abhorrent, but the Iraqi government cannot use them to justify its own unlawful attacks. Iraq’s allies should condemn the targeting of civilian infrastructure, the apparent use of barrel bombs and other indiscriminate attacks.”

Sectarian conflict and Kurdish demands stymie formation of new Iraqi government

After a long struggle, the Iraqi parliament was able to choose a new speaker, a Sunni, and a new president, a Kurd, and finally after much friction a new prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, a Shia.

In a statement on Saturday, Salim al-Jabouri, speaker of the Iraqi parliament, denounced as "terrorists" the Shia armed group suspected of killing at least 73 people inside a Sunni mosque . After rejecting al-Abadi's nomination at first, the present prime minister Nouri al-Maliki finally gave in to pressure both internal and external to give up his bid for another term. He was promised a role of some sort in any new government. However, al-Abadi was left with the difficult task of forming a new government from groups that are at loggerheads with one another. 

Now a mass killing at a mosque in which at least 73 people were killed has derailed the process of forming a government entirely. In protest at the attack Sunni politicians suspended talks designed to form a new government. Salim al-Jabouri, the speaker and leading Sunni politician denounced the Shia group believed responsible for the attacks as terrorists. He said: "There are those who want to thwart the political process. They are targeting the Iraqi society and its social structures." Both Jabouri ajnd Deputy Prime MInister Saleh al-Mutlak are demanding that present prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Shia political allies hand over those responsible for the attack within two days and also compensate families of victims. 

The new prime minister al-Abadi who will take over from al-Maliki once he forms a government also spoke out against the attack:"I strongly condemn the killing of civilians and worshippers in Diyala province and I call on the citizens to reject these attempts by the enemies of Iraq to exploit the incident in order to stir up strife between the sons of the same homeland." Local sources say the attack by the Shia militia may have been in response to a roadside bomb attack that targeted a recruitment campaign of the same militia. 

An Al Jazeera correspondent remarked: "Everyone has been terrified that this could be the incident that could spark another civil war. What we have seen in the past here is that Shia militias and Sunni fighters come in where there is a security vacuum, and that is certainly what we are seeing in Iraq." This event is just one of a number of incidents that show the rising sectarian violence that will make formation of any new government difficult. Back in July Shia militia executed 15 Sunni Muslims and hung them on poles in a public square in the town of Baquba according to police. According to Human Rights Watch(HRW) during the month of July alone Iraqi security forces executed more that 255 prisoners during July in retaliation for atrocities committed by the Islamic State rebels. 

In many areas Sunnis cooperate with the IS. Events such as these will no doubt lead to more alliances with IS in Sunni areas. The Shia and western countries as well as Iran all see IS as simply a terrorist organization to be destroyed. However, many Sunni's will fight against IS only if the Iraq government changes its treatment of the Sunnis. Ahmed al-Dulaimi, the governor of Anbar province that is mostly controlled by IS said: “The only way to fight ISIS is to support the citizens who lost their dignity and their rights under the old government".  

 Not everyone agrees that the attack was carried out by Shia militia members. Some Shia leaders including the cleric and politician Moktad al_Sadr claimed that the attack was an attempt by IS to create an escalation in sectarian violence and said it had the "explicit touch of ISIS". If al-Sadr is correct, the attack worked as intended by IS.

 Even if the Sunni and Shia politicians are able to overcome their differences, the Kurds also may create difficulties that could block formation of a government. The Kurds have occupied new territory since the offensive by IS.They now control the city of Kirkuk and area and have no intention of giving control back to the central government. There are certain demands that the Kurds have that they demand be addressed before they even discuss what their role in a new government will be:

 The negotiators are making several demands of the new government, including implementing Article 140, sending the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) its share of Iraq’s oil revenue, arming the Peshmerga forces and settling disputes over oil in the Kurdistan Region, said Najib Balatayi, one of the Kurdish delegates in Baghdad.  

Another Kurdish negotiator, Zana Rustay said: “We showed that we aren’t in a hurry to form the new government; we are more in a hurry to have our conditions met".

Houla Massacre new report contradicts official version in the west

The official version as I understand it is that the massacre was the work of Assad forces and/or a militia loyal to Assad from nearby villages. However recent reports blame the massacre on rebels who have used it as a means of isolating Assad even more internationally and to seek more aid for their cause. As well it shows the UN peace plan is not working at all.

   The report is found in numerous places but is listed in this article as coming from the German Newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) a leading German Daily. This report claims that the massacre was carried out by anti-Assad militants. Although Houla is 90 per cent Sunni most of the victims were Shia or Alawi. Assad is from the Alawi minority.
     The army set up road blocks to keep Sunni rebels from attacking local Alawi majority villages. The rebels attacked the checkpoints and there was a battle in which both sides sustained losses. It was during this period that the massacre is said to have happened. I quote from this article::""Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shia minorities....Several dozen members of a family were slaughtered, which had converted from Sunni to Shia Islam. Members of the Shomaliya, an Alawi family, were also killed, as was the family of a Sunni member of the Syrian parliament who is regarded as a collaborator. Immediately following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted on the Internet. """  The German report is confirmed by statements from the Monastery of St. James in Qara. armed rebels murdered entire Alawi families in the Houla region.

  Mother Agnes-Mariam de la Croix of the St. James monastery had warned back in April that rebel atrocities were actually being repackaged in western and Arab media as regime atrocities. Mother de la Croix provides a specific example. For further details see the full article.  While none of this can change the fact that Assad has actually committed heinous acts it does suggest that most western media ignore counter evidence in cases such as Houla or just write it off as Assad propaganda.