JEDDAH: Iraqi Shiite militias, with Iranian support, made attempts to assassinate Saudi Ambassador to Iraq Thamer Al-Sabhan by targeting his armored car with RPJ-7 missiles.
A source, quoted by a local publication, revealed that these militias have direct links to Iran, mostly the Khorasan Battalion, and a group dealing with Awas Al-Khafaji, secretary general of Abu Fadl Al-Abbas forces.
Al-Sabhan confirmed that Saudi Embassy will continue working as normal in Baghdad despite security threats, according to Al-Arabiya.
He stressed that the Kingdom’s ongoing support for Iraqi people will not be abandoned.
“The Kingdom has taken all security procedures to face these threats by sectarian groups and informed Iraqi authorities of them,” he said.
According to informed sources, the militias have three attack plots, all of which call for carrying out the operation as fast as possible. Two plans, one belonging to the Khorasan Battalion, were uncovered, while a new plan, led by Al-Khafaji, was also identified. All plots, masterminded by Iranian elements, were unsuccessful.
An Iraqi security official told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat the assassination attempts on the ambassador by the Khorasan Battalion, and their aim to get rid of him and his statements against Iran, and create a political and diplomatic crisis between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
The official, who works with one of the Iraqi intelligence units, said: “Units were able to follow up on a plan put in place by the Khorasan Battalion, and found calls between elements of this militia and Baghdad International Airport employees, who are also loyal to the battalion, regarding movement of the ambassador to and from Baghdad.”
The source added: “The plan involves confronting the convoy of the ambassador on the road to the Baghdad airport with cars carrying fake license plates belonging to the Ministry of Interior and trying to assassinate the ambassador with RPJ-7 missiles, since the ambassador’s cars are armored. Then the cars would escape to the Sunni area in Al-Radwaniyya to hide and blame Daesh for the assassination.
One message intercepted between the Khorasan Battalion and an employee at the airport reads, “the group is awaiting Al-Haji Sabahi to receive him at the guesthouse … inform us of his arrival.”
Al-Haji Sabahi is a popular name used in the southern countryside areas to refer to Al-Sabhan, while the guesthouse refers to the point where the plot would be carried out.
“We were able to arrest the employee at the airport and confirmed that he was working with Khorasan Battalion militias in exchange for a financial sum, but we could not reach the entire group tasked with implementing the operation, which is made up of eight members distributed between two cars,” said the official.
Authorities arrested one of them, he said, as they frequently change their mobile numbers and are very cautions. The employee admitted that an Iranian officer had put the plan in place and supervised it.
Iran conspiracy to kill Saudi envoy to Iraq uncovered
Iran conspiracy to kill Saudi envoy to Iraq uncovered
Israeli army takes journalists into a tunnel in a Gaza city it seized and largely flattened
- Israel and Hamas are on the cusp of finishing the first phase of the truce, which mandated the return of all hostages, living and dead, in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel
- Hamas has said communication with its remaining units in Rafah has been cut off for months and that it was not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas
RAFAH, Gaza Strip: One by one, the soldiers squeezed through a narrow entrance to a tunnel in southern Gaza. Inside a dark hallway, some bowed their heads to avoid hitting the low ceiling, while watching their step as they walked over or around jagged concrete, crushed plastic bottles and tattered mattresses.
On Monday, Israel’s military took journalists into Rafah — the city at Gaza’s southernmost point that troops seized last year and largely flattened — as the 2-month-old Israel-Hamas ceasefire reaches a critical point. Israel has banned international journalists from entering Gaza since the war began more than two years ago, except for rare, brief visits supervised by the military, such as this one.
Soldiers escorted journalists inside a tunnel, which they said was one of Hamas’ most significant and complex underground routes, connecting cities in the embattled territory and used by top Hamas commanders. Israel said Hamas had kept the body of a hostage in the underground passage: Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old soldier who was killed in Gaza more than a decade ago and whose remains had been held there.
Hamas returned Goldin’s body last month as part of a US-brokered ceasefire in the war triggered by the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and hundreds taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says roughly half the dead have been women and children.
Israel and Hamas are on the cusp of finishing the first phase of the truce, which mandated the return of all hostages, living and dead, in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel. The body of just one more hostage remains to be returned.
Mediators warn the second phase will be far more challenging since it includes thornier issues, such as disarming Hamas and Israel’s withdrawal from the strip. Israel currently controls more than half of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington this month to discuss those next steps with US President Donald Trump.
Piles of rubble line Rafah’s roads
Last year, Israel launched a major operation in Rafah, where many Palestinians had sought refuge from offensives elsewhere. Heavy fighting left much of the city in ruins and displaced nearly one million Palestinians. This year, when the military largely had control of the city, it systematically demolished most of the buildings that remained standing, according to satellite photos.
Troops also took control of and shut the vital Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that was not controlled by Israel.
Israel said Rafah was Hamas’ last major stronghold and key to dismantling the group’s military capabilities, a major war aim.
On the drive around Rafah on Monday, towers of mangled concrete, wires and twisted metal lined the roads, with few buildings still standing and none unscathed. Remnants of people’s lives were scattered the ground: a foam mattress, towels and a book explaining the Qur’an.
Last week, Israel said it was ready to reopen the Rafah crossing but only for people to leave the strip. Egypt and many Palestinians fear that once people leave, they won’t be allowed to return. They say Israel is obligated to open the crossing in both directions.
Israel has said that entry into Gaza would not be permitted until Israel receives all hostages remaining in the strip.
Inside the tunnel
The tunnel that journalists were escorted through runs beneath what was once a densely populated residential neighborhood, under a United Nations compound and mosques. Today, Rafah is a ghost town. Underground, journalists picked their way around dangling cables and uneven concrete slabs covered in sand.
The army says the tunnel is more than 7 kilometers (4 miles) long and up to 25 meters (82 feet) deep and was used for storing weapons as well as long-term stays. It said top Hamas commanders were there during the war, including Mohammed Sinwar — who was believed to have run Hamas’ armed wing and was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has said it has killed both of them.
“What we see right here is a perfect example of what Hamas did with all the money and the equipment that was brought into Gaza throughout the years,” said Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. “Hamas took it and built an incredible city underground for the purposes of terror and holding bodies of hostages.”
Israel has long accused Hamas of siphoning off money for military purposes. While Hamas says the Palestinians are an occupied people and have a right to resist, the group also has a civilian arm and ran a government that provided services such as health care, a police force and education.
The army hasn’t decided what to do with the tunnel. It could seal it with concrete, explode it or hold it for intelligence purposes among other options.
Since the ceasefire began, three soldiers have been killed in clashes with about 200 Hamas militants that Israeli and Egyptian officials say remain underground in Israeli-held territory.
Hamas has said communication with its remaining units in Rafah has been cut off for months and that it was not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeated violations of the deal during the first phase. Israel has accused Hamas of dragging out the hostage returns, while Palestinian health officials say over 370 Palestinians have been killed in continued Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect.
