thousands of inhabitants. The assassination in November 1803 of Saudi Emir ‘Abd al-‘Aziz during prayers in Diriyah by an Iraqi was suspected of being orchestrated by the Mamluk governor of Baghdad, further contributing to the negative Saudi perception of Iraq. Iraq was able to repel additional Saudi attacks on Najaf and Hillah in 1803 and 1806, but there remained no challenge to their domination of the desert. At the creation of the Sykes–Picot Agreement, the Hashemites ruled the kingdoms of Hijaz, Transjordan and Iraq. Once Ibn Saud established dominance in central Arabian Najd, he then proceeded to dominate much of the Arabian Peninsula and, with the help of the highly conservative Ikhwan, even conquered the Hashemite Kingdom of Hijaz in 1925. This was the beginning of a struggle between the ruling Hashemite family in Iraq and Jordan and the Saudis. In 1958, no longer would the Hashemites rule Iraq. Instead, Iraq fell under anti-Imperial Arab nationalism, led by Brigadier General Abd al-Karim Qasim. With strong socialist elements, Iraq was seen to move towards the Soviet Union as Saudi Arabia was quietly moving towards the United States. In 1979 Saddam Hussein took control of Iraq and, due to the Iranian revolution in the same year, relations improved between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s, Riyadh suspected Baghdad of supporting political movements hostile to Saudi interests, not only in the Arabian Peninsula but also in other Middle Eastern countries. Saudi–Iraqi ties consequently were strained; the kingdom tried to contain the spread of Arab Nationalism from Iraq by strengthening its relations with states such as Iran, Kuwait, Syria and the United States, all of which shared its distrust of Baghdad. Beginning in late 1974, however, Iraq began to moderate its foreign policies, a change that significantly lessened tensions between Riyadh and Baghdad. It began at the Rabat Arab summit in October 1974, where Jordan invited Iraq to listen to proposals for how it could resolve differences with Iran, Egypt, and the Saudis. Iraq agreed. Iraq responded with a "charm offensive" that resulted in better relations: "High-level Iraqi officials, including Vice President Saddam Hussein and President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, visited the Kingdom, and ranking Saudis, like Crown Prince Fahd, paid return visits to Baghdad. Iraq ended propaganda efforts critical of the Saudi rulers and suspended covert activities in the Kingdom. In June 1975, the two states settled lingering