Saudi Arabia has reopened its embassy in Baghdad after a 25-year shutdown, in a sign of thawing relations between the two countries.
The kingdom closed its embassy in Baghdad in 1990, after Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein ordered an invasion of Kuwait.
The embassy's reopening will allow the two countries to cooperate on security and the fight against extremism, the new Saudi ambassador to Iraq, Thamer al-Sabhan, told Al-Arabiya TV.
A thaw in relations between Sunni Muslim-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite-led Iraq could help strengthen a regional alliance against Islamic State militants who have seized territory in Iraq and Syria.
Saudi Arabia has in the past accused Iraq of being too close to Shi'ite-led Iran, its biggest regional rival, and of encouragingdiscrimination against Sunnis. Baghdad denies the charges.
