Iran conspiracy to kill Saudi envoy to Iraq uncovered

Thamer Al-Sabhan, Saudi ambassador to Iraq. (Courtesy: aleqt)

JEDDAH: Iraqi Shiite militias, with Iranian support, made attempts to assassinate Saudi Ambassador to Iraq Thamer Al-Sabhan by targeting his armored car with RPJ-7 missiles.
A source, quoted by a local publication, revealed that these militias have direct links to Iran, mostly the Khorasan Battalion, and a group dealing with Awas Al-Khafaji, secretary general of Abu Fadl Al-Abbas forces.
Al-Sabhan confirmed that Saudi Embassy will continue working as normal in Baghdad despite security threats, according to Al-Arabiya.
He stressed that the Kingdom’s ongoing support for Iraqi people will not be abandoned.
“The Kingdom has taken all security procedures to face these threats by sectarian groups and informed Iraqi authorities of them,” he said.
According to informed sources, the militias have three attack plots, all of which call for carrying out the operation as fast as possible. Two plans, one belonging to the Khorasan Battalion, were uncovered, while a new plan, led by Al-Khafaji, was also identified. All plots, masterminded by Iranian elements, were unsuccessful.
An Iraqi security official told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat the assassination attempts on the ambassador by the Khorasan Battalion, and their aim to get rid of him and his statements against Iran, and create a political and diplomatic crisis between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
The official, who works with one of the Iraqi intelligence units, said: “Units were able to follow up on a plan put in place by the Khorasan Battalion, and found calls between elements of this militia and Baghdad International Airport employees, who are also loyal to the battalion, regarding movement of the ambassador to and from Baghdad.”
The source added: “The plan involves confronting the convoy of the ambassador on the road to the Baghdad airport with cars carrying fake license plates belonging to the Ministry of Interior and trying to assassinate the ambassador with RPJ-7 missiles, since the ambassador’s cars are armored. Then the cars would escape to the Sunni area in Al-Radwaniyya to hide and blame Daesh for the assassination.
One message intercepted between the Khorasan Battalion and an employee at the airport reads, “the group is awaiting Al-Haji Sabahi to receive him at the guesthouse … inform us of his arrival.”
Al-Haji Sabahi is a popular name used in the southern countryside areas to refer to Al-Sabhan, while the guesthouse refers to the point where the plot would be carried out.
“We were able to arrest the employee at the airport and confirmed that he was working with Khorasan Battalion militias in exchange for a financial sum, but we could not reach the entire group tasked with implementing the operation, which is made up of eight members distributed between two cars,” said the official.
Authorities arrested one of them, he said, as they frequently change their mobile numbers and are very cautions. The employee admitted that an Iranian officer had put the plan in place and supervised it.