Iraqi Meets With Saudis to Discuss Hussein’s Ouster
A key Iraqi opposition leader is in Saudi Arabia for talks on coordinating a campaign to topple Saddam Hussein, Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Saturday.
The agency, monitored in Nicosia, said Mohammed Bakr Hakim arrived in Riyadh late Friday from his headquarters in Tehran. He is head of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, a coalition of Shiite Muslim groups backed by Iran.
Hakim claims that Hussein’s forces are mobilizing for “a large-scale attack against the Muslims in southern Iraq,” where repeated clashes with Shiite rebels have been reported for months.
Thousands of Shiites have been holed up in Iraq’s southern marshes since their rebellion was crushed by Iraq’s army last spring.
Hakim said that intelligence from inside Iraq suggests that “the attack is to take place within the next 12 days.”
Hakim’s group has previously made similar claims that have not been substantiated. But diplomatic sources have reported a significant military buildup in Iraq recently.
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