Alwaght- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has urged a united front with Iraq in tackling terrorism in both countries, after the Iraqi foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in Damascus last Tuesday. Al-Jaafari’s visit to Syria is the first visit of a senior Iraqi official to Damascus since 2011.
While the Syrian government's diplomatic ties have deteriorated with the Persian Gulf states, Damascus has maintained strong relations with its neighbor Baghdad. In June 2014, the Syrian government announced its willingness to coordinate with Iraqi authorities in order to face the threat posed by ISIS terrorist group, which controls areas on the borders of both countries.
The need for mutual coordination in order to meet the terror dangers, facing the two countries and the entire region and world as well, was the major subject to be discussed between the Syrian President and Iraq’s FM.
During the meeting, President al-Assad praised the successes made by both Iraqi and Syrian people and armed forces against the terrorist organizations. Al-Assad assured that those successes have contributed to cutting the spread of terrorism, adding that further consultation and coordination between Baghdad and Damascus will give a boost to these successes. Al-Assad added that it is yet of great importance to have a real international will to contend with terrorism and face up to the countries backing it.
Al-Assad said last month that third parties including Iraq were conveying information to Damascus about the U.S.-led air strikes against ISIS in Syria. Last September Iraq’s national security adviser briefed the Syrian president on efforts to counter ISIS.
Al-Jaafari framed his visit to Damascus as part of the efforts to strengthen the relations between Iraq and other countries, particularly neighboring countries, stressing on the historical and geographic ties and mutual interests that bind Baghdad and Damascus together. He noted that whenever the world turned its back on Iraqis, Syria was there to embrace them, stressing, “We will never forget those who stand by our people and defend our security and theirs and our sovereignty and theirs.”
Iraqi FM remarked, “Syria will emerge from the crisis stronger and strategic relations between the two countries will continue to evolve”. Al-Jaafari assured that his meetings in Damascus are an expression of the political and social structures that are responding to terrorism. “Today, relations rose to the level of the strategies and the mutual threat that is targeting Syria and Iraq and that looms in other areas in the world,” the Iraqi official said.
The Syrian foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Syria and Iraq stand in the same front against terrorism, adding, “Whenever Iraq is okay, Syria is okay too, and that’s why we are deeply confident that the Iraqi leaders have never spared any efforts to support Syria and help break the siege imposed on it.”
Al-Jaafari’s visit to Damascus comes ahead of an Arab League meeting in Egypt this weekend. Syria’s membership in the organization has been suspended since 2011. Back then, its seat was granted to the “Syrian opposition” in 2013 during the Arab summit in Qatar, one of the states that wants Syria to fall apart. However, the seat was left vacant during the 2014 summit in Kuwait and seems likely to remain vacant this year.
