Iraq on Monday rejected charges from Gulf Arab foreign ministers that Baghdad posed a threat to its neighbors, saying the opposite was the truth, reported AFP.
"Iraq rejects such suspect calls," said Nabil Najm, undersecretary at the foreign ministry.
"The claim that Iraq poses a threat to its neighbors is the total opposite of reality, as proved by the daily attacks on Iraq with the participation of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait," he said, quoted by the official INA news agency.
US and British warplanes use bases in the two Gulf states to patrol the skies of southern Iraq, triggering frequent clashes.
Gulf foreign ministers at a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Sunday urged Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "to prove his peaceful intentions...to restore regional security and stability."
They also "strongly condemned the threats against (Iraq's) neighbors."
Saudi Arabia appealed to the international community to urge Iraq to “desist from violating” its international boundaries, asserting its right to “take whatever measures it deems appropriate to protect its security and borders,” reported the official Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA).
"Saudi Arabia alerts the members of the UN to the grave consequences of the continued violation by the Iraqi authorities of the territory of Saudi Arabia, which jeopardizes security and peace in the region, " Shobokshi said in his letter.
He said Iraqi military units positioned in Iraqi territory had in recent days violated the land boundaries of Saudi Arabia, and had attacked units of the Saudi frontier force and inflicted a number of casualties on them, both killed and wounded, according to KUNA.
Shobokshi said that on May 23, an Iraqi patrol crossed the Saudi-Iraqi international boundary and penetrated 400 meters inside Saudi territory.
The exchange of gunfire in Sahn Al Sharqiyah, he said, “caused injuries to an Iraqi soldier, Taqi Hussein, who was left behind by his comrades and who later died on his way to a Saudi hospital for treatment.”
Shobokshi said there were also incidents that took place in 1999.
"We had believed (those incidents) to be isolated acts that might be overlooked. But it has recently become clear to us that they have a certain continuity and that there is a persistence in maintaining the attacks," he said – Albawaba.com
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