BAGHDAD - Kuwait named its first ambassador to Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War on Thursday, a major step toward healing the two countries' painful past.

The announcement came as the Sunni leader of Lebanon's parliamentary majority met with Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki -- also reflecting Iraq's efforts to reconcile with aloof Arab neighbors and tamp down sectarian tension across the region.

Sunni Arab leaders suspect Shiite power Iran has strong influence over al-Maliki, who has made some diplomatic gains in the region but has struggled to win over Sunni powerhouses such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Kuwait's official news agency quoted the country's foreign minister as saying retired Lt. Gen. Ali al-Momen, a former military chief of staff, will take the ambassador post. His appointment will be issued in a decree by the emir, it said.

The country closed its embassy in Iraq in 1990, after Saddam Hussein invaded his tiny, oil-rich neighbor. The attack spurred the 1991 U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam's forces.

The two neighbors had no relations until more than a dozen years later, when another American invasion toppled Saddam. They resumed ties after 2003, and an Iraqi Embassy reopened in Kuwait, led by a charge d'affaires.

Kuwait had held back from reopening its embassy in Baghdad, however, citing security concerns. Diplomats from Bahrain, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other Sunni Muslim countries have been either killed, wounded or kidnapped in Iraq since 2003.

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