Syrian FM visits ally Iraq amid return to Arab fold

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The foreign ministers of Iraq and Syria stressed the importance of the relation between the two countries during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday, as Damascus emerges from years of diplomatic isolation.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad arrived in the Iraqi capital on Saturday evening, on a visit to the country which has remained an ally throughout years of being left out of the Arab fold. Mekdad met with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein and is expected to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani and Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid. 

The visit comes two weeks after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad participated in the Arab League summit in Jeddah for the first time in over a decade, after receiving an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman. Syria was expelled from the Arab League in 2011 as a protest to the regime crackdown on protests at the time. 

“We were from the initiators in the Arab League meetings who asked for Syria’s return to its seat,” Hussein said, expressing his jubilation at Syria’s return to the group.

Hussein said that meetings between Syria and Arab countries resulted in announcing the Amman Memorandum, which will act as a road plan for future discussions to deal with the humanitarian situation in Syria.

On May 1, Jordan hosted a regional summit attended by the foreign ministers of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Iraq, aimed at reaching a political solution for the region’s relations with Damascus. The landmark summit marked the Syrian government’s first meeting with groups of Arab countries since 2011.

Both ministers talked about the humanitarian conditions in Syria. Hussein said that Iraq has received over 250,000 refugees from Syria, the majority of whom are hosted at refugee camps in the Kurdistan Region.
Mekdad also praised Iraq for coming to the aid of Syria following the earthquake and thanked Iraqi people for helping their “other half” in the country. 

“We look forward to improving our relations. It remains to cooperate to fight against terror, and end the danger of drugs and end the economic sanctions against Syria,” Mekdad said, while Hussein admitted that Iraq has become a corridor for drug trafficking – a matter which he said needs to be resolved. 

Mekdad revealed that they will work with other countries to form an Arab front to support ending conflict in Syria and ending violence perpetrated by what he labeled “terrorist groups” in the northeast, as well as the presence of US troops. 

“The brothers in Iraq look after their steps on the regional and international level to ensure respecting the sovereignty and unity of the territories of the Syrian republic,” he said.

Captagon is an amphetamine-type stimulant which has been spreading across the drug market in the Middle East, with Syria as the main supplier, and Saudi Arabia the primary consumer of the substance. Captagon pills have also been caught being smuggled into Iraq from Syria several times this year.