RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari has officially reopened his country's embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh after a 17-year closure.
Diplomatic sources said the Iraqi flag was Tuesday raised above the embassy building in the diplomatic district of Riyadh and will soon be hoisted above the Iraqi consulate in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
The embassy reopens its doors for the first time in the oil-rich kingdom since Iraqi forces under the former Saddam Hussein regime invaded neighboring Kuwait in August 1990.
Diplomatic relations between the two Arab countries were restored in July 2004, but the Saudi embassy has not reopened in Baghdad due to an absence of security in the war-torn country.
A Saudi diplomat said that in a Tuesday meeting with Zibari, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told his counterpart the kingdom has no objections to opening its embassy in Baghdad, but that sending an ambassador to the Iraqi capital depends on the security conditions.
The diplomat added that Zibari assured al-Faisal that "there are 50 embassies in Baghdad and the Iraqi authorities are capable of protecting the ambassadors."
Most Arab countries have been more than reluctant to dispatch ambassadors to Baghdad after a number of Arab diplomats were abducted amid general lawlessness in the country after the U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam's regime in April 2003.
