Saudi Arabia announced Thursday the deployment of 30,000 soldiers to its border with Iraq after Iraqi soldiers withdrew from the area (on the orders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.) The Saudi-owned Al Arabia satellite channel had a video showing some 2,500 Iraqi soldiers in the desert area east of the Iraqi city of Karbala after they quit their positions, leaving the border area with Saudi Arabia and Syria unguarded. DEBKAfile first reported Saudi military deployment on the Iraqi border in DEBKA Weekly on June 27 and on its site (with map) on June 28 after ISIS seized the Ar Ar border crossing.