Iraqi PM, Syria’s Assad hold talks on security, water in Damascus
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday in the first such visit by an Iraqi premier since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011.
Assad and Sudani discussed securing their shared 600km border from security threats, including Daesh terrorist group, and agreed to enhance cooperation to reduce drug smuggling, they said during a joint news conference, Reuters reported. Sudani said they also discussed ways to combat drought conditions in both countries caused by a reduction in rainfall, climate change and upstream damming by Turkey.
“We need to cooperate to get our fair share of water,” Sudani said.
Sudani said Iraq supported the lifting of sanctions on Syria, put in place and expanded by the US and European countries since 2011.
Iraq and Syria, which have close economic, military and political ties to regional heavyweight Iran, maintained relations throughout Syria’s war even as other Arab states withdrew their ambassadors and closed their embassies in Syria. Baghdad and Damascus, along with Shia armed groups, cooperated in the fight against Daesh, which spread from Iraq into Syria and at one point controlled more than a third of both countries.
Farhad Alaaldin, foreign affairs adviser to the prime minister, said before the meeting that Sudani was set to discuss combatting the flow of the amphetamine Captagon and possibilities for reopening a Mediterranean oil export pipeline, which could help Iraq diversify its export routes.
Sudani’s visit comes as other countries, including Saudi Arabia, rebuild relations with Damascus after years of tensions.