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Iraq
An Iraqi man waits next to oxygen bottles after a fire at Ibn al-Khatib hospital on April 25, 2021. Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Iraq announced on Wednesday that the kingdom will rebuild Ibn al-Khatib Hospital in the Baghdad after a deadly fire ripped through the building in April.
“The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, directed the kingdom to donate to and rehabilitate Ibn al-Khatib Hospital in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, as a gift for the brotherly Iraqi people,” it said in a tweet.
A massive fire ripped through Baghdad’s Ibn al-Khatib Hospital, designated for COVID-19 care, last month, killing 130 people.
Survivors of the fire still in critical condition will be sent to Saudi Arabia for treatment, the embassy added.
Iraq’s human rights commission found that the fire started after an oxygen cylinder exploded in a patient wing crowded with visitors. Iraqi parliament’s health committee published a report on the incident, noting “negligence and the lack of a central fire extinguishing system in the hospital.”
Iraq and Saudi have enjoyed closer ties in recent years, as Saudi Arabia looks to offset Iranian influence in the region. Rapprochement between the two began in 2015, when Saudi Arabia reopened their Baghdad embassy after 25 years of closure.
PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited Saudi Arabia late in March 2020, and signed several new agreements to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries and boost economic cooperation.
The two countries agreed to establish a joint fund with an estimated capital of $3 billion, a "contribution from the kingdom" to boost investment in the Iraqi economy.
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