Al-Maliki accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar of declaring 'war on Iraq'

BAGHDAD (Xinhua) - Saudi Arabia and Qatar have declared "war on Iraq" as they are providing "limitless" support for militant groups in the war-torn country, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in an interview broadcast Saturday.

The two Gulf monarchies "are attacking Iraq through Syria and directly. They absolutely staged a war on Iraq as they staged a war on Syria," al-Maliki said in his interview with France 24 television channel.

"I accuse them of inciting and encouraging the terrorist movement; I accuse them of supporting them politically and in the media, (and) supporting them with money and to buy weapons," al- Maliki said, with English translation provided by the channel.

"And I accuse them of leading an open war against the Iraqi government; I accuse them of hosting leaders of al-Qaeda," he said.

Al-Maliki pointed out that Iraq's sectarian, terrorist and security crisis "is due to those countries first and foremost."

The Iraqi prime minister also lashed out at Saudi Arabia's stance of supporting terrorism around the world - in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and even in countries outside the Arab world.

Al-Maliki warned Saudi Arabia and Qatar to "be careful because the support of terrorism will turn against you" and hoped the two countries will change their position.

But he ruled out the possibility of retaliation against Saudi Arabia and Qatar, saying "we could retaliate but we don't wish to do that because this would fan the flame in the region."

"We call on the world to put pressure on those countries, so that they stop supporting terrorism; we wish them to revise their policy," al-Maliki said.

His remarks came as Iraq is witnessing its worst violence in recent years, which raised fears that the increasing violence could plunge the country in uncontrollable sectarian violence.

On Saturday, at least 31 people, including a candidate for the upcoming parliamentary elections, were killed and 49 others wounded in separate violent attacks across Iraq. The deadliest attacks occurred in Iraq's western province of Anbar, leaving a total of 18 members of Iraq's security forces dead and 25 others wounded.

According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8, 868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll for years.