According to a report by Norway’s Radio Austin, European states are concerned about the partnership of certain regional countries with a plan proposed by certain opposition forces for assassinating the Iraqi prime minister.
The report said that the Western states are pressurizing Qatari, Turkish and Saudi officials not to embark on such an irresponsible and crazy act since it will have dangerous consequences for the regional states, specially Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
The report came after other reports from Iraq said last month that several regional states, including Qatar, have paid $100 to each participant in protest rallies in al-Anbar province in support of Iraqi Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, whose bodyguards have been arrested on terrorism charges last month.
Iraq’s al-Nakhil news agency quoted a security official as saying that after the arrest of Issawi’s bodyguards, several groups affiliated to the regional states, specially Qatar, paid huge sums to their sympathizers in Anbar, Salaheddin and Nineveh provinces to stage rallies against the Iraqi government.
Ouraq al-Khalij newspaper also informed that Doha is staunchly supporting Issawi for taking the leadership of Sunni protesters in Iraq.
The paper said Qatari officials had contacted a large number of their agents and hirelings in Iraq in recent days to coordinate the protests, adding that even the mottoes chanted against al-Maliki government have been dictated by Doha.
Also last month, an Iraqi legislator said that a number of foreign states are funding and supporting the recent protests and unrest in Iraq’s al-Anbar province.
“The goal of the recent protests in Iraq is drowning the country and this plot is orchestrated by the foreign states,” Jamal al-Batikh told FNA.
He also cautioned that certain opposition lawmakers joined the plot and entered a regional and international game against Iraq.
