These are the signs of opening a Saudi consulate in Najaf

Riyadh Fakhri - Baghdad

The views of the Iraqi political blocs on the Saudi move to open a consulate in the city of Najaf south of Baghdad, which comes within the framework of what could be called "full rotation of Saudi Arabia" towards Iraq after decades of tension and mistrust, while welcomed by some and saw it as a step contribute to the development of relations between the two countries , Others questioned them and considered that they do not come in the service of the two peoples, but penetration into the depth of Iraq and sabotage in it.

"Saudi Arabia wants to enter the Shiite house to its roots," the director of Iraqi News Channel, political analyst Abdul Amir al-Aboudi, explains the latest Saudi steps in Iraq, especially the opening of a consulate in the Shi'ite city of Najaf.

"Saudi Arabia wants to indulge in the important reality of the Shiite component in Iraq, according to a narrow vision in which it believes that it can enter into its depth and create a rift in it."

He points out that he does not find a realistic explanation for the direction of Saudi Arabia in Najaf and Karbala, and also in Baghdad when his former ambassador, Thamer al-Sbahan, visited the Shiite jurist Hussein al-Sadr in the Kadhimiya district, but acknowledged that Iraqi parties certainly welcome it.

According to Aboudi, Saudi Arabia wants to get close to some Shiite references, but it does not exclude the possibility of approaching the Supreme Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani, who "knows what Saudi Arabia wants and what its objectives."

The government agreed on the ninth of this month to open a consulate in the holy city of Najaf Najaf stronghold of the world's Shiites, where the shrine of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib and the Shiite Hawza.

Najaf, which is visited by thousands of Saudi Shiites annually, like the dream for the residents of the eastern region of the Kingdom because they face great constriction because of these visits, so they have to travel to Kuwait or Jordan and then Iraq to escape the eyes of the Saudi authorities.

Dispelling fears
Fatima al-Zarkani, a member of the coalition of the rule of law, led by Nuri al-Maliki, Saudi Arabia, that the goal of opening the consulate to provide services to citizens of the two countries, and not only to expand political relations.

"We have to see a Saudi move to give the rights of the Shiites in Saudi Arabia, to dispel their fears, to end the surveillance and crackdown on visitors, and to prove that they have pushed for better relations to serve the two peoples," she told Al Jazeera.net.

Over the past few months, Saudi Arabia has taken several steps to achieve a rapprochement: building a sports city, hosting the Iraqi football team in a friendly tournament alongside Brazil and Argentina, as well as frequent visits to economic delegations and the establishment of a coordination council between the two countries.

Welcome .. Doubt
Najaf province councilor Razak Sharif, during his interview with Al Jazeera Net, welcomes the inauguration of the Saudi consulate after many years of strained relations and sees it as a step in enhancing rapprochement.

But will Saudi Arabia, which is accused of supporting "terrorism" in Iraq, be able to refute or at least discard these accusations, while Shiite political parties still see it as the first "backer" of the country's terrorist operations after the 2003 US invasion?

In this regard, Hassan Salim, a representative of the parliamentary bloc "Sadiqoun", believes that Saudi Arabia, whatever it does, will not be able to erase from Iraqi memory its "negative actions against the Iraqis" or "the reality of the Shiites in the eastern region of the Kingdom."

"The Saudi file in Iraq is black and its opening to the consulates is not to improve diplomatic relations or serve the two peoples, but because it wants to penetrate the Iraqi depth and sabotage it," he said.