According to reports, a senior Iraqi security official hailed improving security ties with neighbouring Saudi Arabia amid a tentative rapprochement between the two countries in recent weeks. Iraq’s Deputy interior minister Adnan al-Assadi said Baghdad and Riyadh had already discussed working together on measures against terrorism, illegal narcotics, organised crime and cross-border smuggling, and would soon hold talks on prisoner exchanges. The warming of ties comes after Saudi Arabia appointed a non-resident ambassador to Iraq on February 20, the Sunni kingdom’s first envoy to the Shiite-majority country since Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It came after a visit to Saudi Arabia by Assadi and Iraqi National Security Adviser Falah al-Fayadh, during which they met with the kingdom’s intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz and assistant interior minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who is the kingdom’s top counter-terror official. The statement said the Iraqi officials visited Saudi Arabia after an invitation from Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, who is also the interior minister. 1

• 1. “Iraq hails improving Saudi security ties,” Khaleej Times, February 29, 2012, at http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/201...