Saudi denies it may back Sunnis in Iraq

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said there was no truth in an article by a Saudi security adviser suggesting the world's top oil exporter would back Iraq's Muslim Sunnis in the event of a wider sectarian conflict.

Nawaf Obaid, a security adviser to the Saudi government, said on Wednesday the kingdom would intervene with funding and weaponry to prevent Shi'ite militias attacking Iraq's Sunnis once the United States begins pulling out of Iraq.

He also suggested Saudi Arabia could bring down world oil prices to squeeze Shi'ite power Iran, which Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab countries accuse of meddling in Iraq.

"There is no basis in truth to the article by the writer Nawaf Obaid in the Washington Post of November 29, 2006," the state Saudi Press Agency quoted an "official source" as saying.

"The writer does not represent any official body in Saudi Arabia. What he published only represents his personal opinion and does not in any manner at all represent the policy or positions of the kingdom," it added on Friday.

"(Riyadh) continually affirms its support for the security, unity and stability of Iraq, with all of its sectarian groups."

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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