A senior Lebanese Shia cleric has claimed that Iran is planning to build military bases in Iraq near the border with Saudi Arabia, AlKhaleejonline.com reported on Friday. Sayed Mohamed Ali Al-Husseini said that the bases will be supervised by Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Speaking to the Italian news agency AKI on Thursday, Al-Husseini claimed that he had received “credible information” from multiple sources who follow Iranian and Iraqi issues closely, that Iran is planning to “crawl” towards Saudi Arabia through its long border with Iraq. Similar measure will be taken on the border with Kuwait, he pointed out.
Al-Husseini is the Secretary General of the Arab-Islamic Council, which is the political reference point for Arab Shia, much as Wilayat Al-Faqih provides political guardianship in Iran. The group is adopted by Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
He told AKI that claims by the Iraqi foreign minister that Iran’s Major-General Qasim Suleimani is simply a “military advisor” in Baghdad are an attempt to cover up his open role targeting the Arabs. “The ongoing battle in Fallujah,” the cleric said, “is a large military parade for Al-Quds Brigade led by Suleimani, which includes militias from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Afghanistan.”
The Arab Shia official added: “Today, there are clear calls by Wilayat Al-Faqih demanding the establishment of Iraqi Revolutionary Guards in the presence of weak and collaborating governments.” He pointed the finger of blame at Arab silence in the face of such Iranian measures and warned that the ambition of Wilayat Al-Faqih might not stop at the Iraqi borders. Targeting Iraq is based mainly on Iran’s vision for its project across the Arab region, he explained. If such plans are not stopped, Al-Husseini concluded, then the whole future of Arab identity is at risk.
