Iraq's Interior Minister Falah al-Naquib said 18 members of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah have been detained in Iraq, Arab newspapers reported. The minister, who was speaking at an anti-terrorism conference in Saudi Arabia, also pointed the finger of blame at Iran for most of Iraq's problems. "Eighteen Lebanese from Hezbollah have been detained in Iraq on charges of terrorism," Naquib told the Saudi newspaper al-Hayat on the sidelines of the conference, which ended on Tuesday in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
He said Iraq's "biggest problem" was Iran and "its Iraqi followers," while asserting that "the problem with Syria could be resolved with dialogue." Regional allies Syria and Iran -- the two main supporters of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, which pursues an anti-Israeli guerrilla campaign -- have been repeatedly accused of backing insurgents in Iraq. Naquib confirmed the detention of Hezollah members in Iraq in remarks to the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat daily. But he told al-Hayat that most of those detained on charges of terrorism in Iraq were Sudanese and Egyptian nationals. Naquib said he held talks in Riyadh with Saudi authorities on the issue of a number of "detainees who do not carry identity papers and who are claiming to be Saudi." He said the Iraqi government was due to present to Saudi authorities a list of the detainees to confirm their identities "and probably hand them over." |