Saddam’s top aide appears, criticizes US on Iran

Izzat al-Douri, a key aide and deputy of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, was reportedly killed in April 17 last year, however, he appeared in a new video obtained by Al Arabiya News Channel urging US support against Iran’s “hegemony” in Iraq.

Douri, who was the de-facto leader of Iraq’s dissolved Baath party, also accused the US over what is happening in Iraq.

“We consider everything that is happening in Iraq from Iran, its agents, militias, and its security apparatus, is the responsibility of the United states,” he said in a 1:46 minutes video.

He added: “If it [US] did not move to save Iraq and its people from Iran’s hegemony, control and occupation, and to stop bloodshed, destruction, burning and the changing demographic, then Iraqi people should resist [the occupation].”

In the video Douri also urged Arab states to stand against Iran under the Saudi-led Arab coalition.

He stated that one of the ways to deal with the issue in Yemen was to make Iran and its allies adhere to the Security Council decision on ceasefire.

Douri assumed many key posts during Saddam’s reign in power, such as the Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council - the ultimate decision making body in Iraq before the 2003 American-led invasion.

There were also reports that Douri and other former Baath leaders had ties with ISIS in what some analysts described as a political marriage.

The governor of Iraq’s Salahaddin province Raed al-Jabbouri said that Douri was an ISIS “mastermind” in Iraq,” and that his killing is a blow to the group.

However, the Baath part denied the report and the Iraqi government did not have the required DNA to prove he was killed.