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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of openly funding the Sunni Muslim insurgents his troops are battling in western Anbar province, in his strongest such statement since fighting started there early this year.
Security forces have been fighting insurgents from the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Anbar's two main cities - Fallujah and Ramadi -since January, when the arrest of a Sunni lawmaker and the clearing of an anti-government protest camp prompted a tribal revolt and allowed the ISIL to set up fighting positions in the cities.
Maliki's remarks play to Iraqi fears of the Sunni Arab states as he tries to burnish his standing as a defender of the mainly Shiite country before elections at the end of April.
Violence has escalated in the last 12 months -ISIL has led a devastating campaign of suicide bombings since mid-2013 - and Maliki said in a mid-February speech that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were offering money to recruit fighters in Fallujah.
More than 700 people died in violence in Iraq in February, not including nearly 300 reported deaths in western Anbar province. Last year was the deadliest since 2008, with nearly 8,000 killed.
"I accuse them of inciting and encouraging the terrorist movements. I accuse them of supporting them politically and in the media, of supporting them with money and by buying weapons for them,” he told France 24 television late on Saturday.
Maliki has long had chilly relations with the Gulf states, who view him as too close to Iran, and has long suspected them of funding al-Qaida-linked groups to bring down his Shiite-led government.
Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar have played an activist role in the Syria war, supporting armed groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad. They both deny supporting al-Qaida.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Qataron Wednesday in an unprecedented public split between Gulf Arab allies who have fallen out
About the broadcaster:
Anne Ruisi is an editor at China Daily online with more than 30 years of experience as a newspaper editor and reporter. She has worked at newspapers in the U.S., including The Birmingham News in Alabama and City Newspaper of Rochester, N.Y.
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新概念英语第二册英音版 42-Not Very Musical
新概念英语第二册英音版 11-One Good Turn Deserves Another
新概念英语第二册英音版 12-Goodbye and Good Luck
新概念英语第二册英音版 03-Please Send Me a Card
新概念英语第二册英音版 31-Success Story
新概念英语第二册英音版 06-Percy Buttons
新概念英语第一册英音版 135&136-The Latest Report
新概念英语第二册英音版 40-Food and Talk
新概念英语第二册英音版 24-It Could be Worse
新概念英语第二册英音版 19-Sold Out
新概念英语第二册英音版 20-One Man in a Boat
新概念英语第一册英音版 137&138-A Pleasant Dream
新概念英语第二册英音版 28-No Parking
新概念英语第一册英音版 143&144-A Walk Through the Woods
新概念英语第一册英音版 141&142-Sally’s First Train Ride
新概念英语第二册英音版 15-Good News
新概念英语第二册英音版 27-A Wet Night
新概念英语第二册英音版 18-He Often does This
新概念英语第一册英音版 139&140-Is That You, John
新概念英语第二册英音版 22-A Glass Envelope
新概念英语第二册英音版 32-Shopping Made Easy
新概念英语第二册英音版 17-Always Young
新概念英语第二册英音版 04-An Exciting Trip
新概念英语第二册英音版 07-Too Late
新概念英语第二册英音版 14-Do You Speak English
新概念英语第二册英音版 41-Do You Call That a Hat
新概念英语第二册英音版 08-The Best and the Worst
新概念英语第二册英音版 13-The Greenwood Boys
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