Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — Saudi Arabia has mobilized troops near its border with Iraq.

Officials said the Interior Ministry and National Guard Ministry have sent troops to a remote desert location near Iraq. They said the troops were deployed in wake of a mortar strike from Iraq on a Saudi border post on Nov. 21. An Iraqi Shi’ite group claimed responsibility for the attack.

“This is an area very close to the Iraqi and Kuwaiti borders,” Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al Turki said. “So, sometimes this could come from military training or many other reasons. We have to wait for the investigation to show where it happened.”

This marked the first reported attack in decades on Saudi Arabia from Iraq. The mortar strike took place less than two days after an Al Qaida-aligned militia took responsibility for twin car bombings of the Iranian embassy in Lebanon.

Officials said the Saudi military was coordinating with its counterparts
in Iraq and Kuwait. They said the Royal Saudi Air Force has also intensified
reconnaissance missions near the Iraqi border.

The Saudi military deployment took place amid the signing of an
agreement by Western powers that would enable Iran to maintain its nuclear
enrichment program. Officials said the accord on Nov. 24 by the so-called
P5+1 would expand Iranian intervention in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf
Cooperation Council states.

“The government of Iran, month after month, has proven that it has an
ugly agenda in the region,” said Abdullah Al Askar, chairman of the Saudi
Shura Council Foreign Affairs Committee. “And in this regard, no one in the
region will sleep and assume things are going smoothly.”

For its part, the Iraqi government said it was not linked to the attack.
An Iraqi official said no military exercise had taken place when the mortars
fell into Saudi territory.

“There were no rockets or anything fired toward the Saudi border by
security forces,” said Jabar Al Saadi, chairman of the security committee of
the southern Iraqi province of Basra.

  Iraqi Shi’ites, Maj. Gen. Mansour Al Turki, Royal Saudi Air Force, Saudi Shura Council Foreign Affairs Committee, Saudis deploy troops to Iraq border after first mortar attack in decades