Two weeks after Syria’s reintegration into the Arab League organization, Faisal Mekdad was in Baghdad on Sunday. Damascus is trying to get humanitarian aid from Baghdad and trying to expand security cooperation between the two countries.
With our correspondent in Baghdad, Marie-Charlotte Rupee
Exception in the region, Baghdad had never broken diplomatic relations with Damascus. The head of Iraqi diplomacy therefore welcomed Syria’s reintegration into the Arab League during his meeting with his Syrian counterpart.
The two states now want to deepen their cooperation. Security first, in the fight against the remaining cells of the Islamic State group.
But Faisal Mekdad, Syrian Foreign Minister, also hoped to obtain the support of Iraq against the armed groups still present in northwestern Syria.
More important for Baghdad, the fight against drug trafficking. Across the 600 km border that separates the two countries, millions of Captagon pills flood Iraq, which expects the Syrian regime to curb this traffic.
Also referring to the 250,000 Syrian refugees hosted in the country, the head of Iraqi diplomacy pledged to provide humanitarian aid in the near future to Syria, devastated by a decade of war and recent earthquakes.
The development of economic and trade relations with its neighbors remains a major challenge for the Syrian regime, which is still under international sanctions.