Syria announced plans to restore diplomatic relations with Iraq more than two decades after ties were severed, boosting regional hopes for securing borders and signaling a willingness to change its policy toward the violence-torn country.
With Iraq's neighbors concerned that violence and ethnic instability in Iraq could spread throughout the region, they pledged Saturday to cooperate with Iraq's newly elected government on "overall border security."
The neighbors -- which include Syria and Iran, two countries accused by US officials of failing to prevent insurgents from crossing their borders -- also planned an upcoming meeting of their interior ministers to discuss how to better monitor their borders.
The announcements were made during a two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Iran, Turkey and Egypt. Saudi Arabia's deputy foreign minister also attended the meeting, held at a former Ottoman palace overlooking the Bosporus.
The neighbors stressed the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq, and "pledged to support and cooperate with its newly elected" government, which is dominated by Kurds and majority Shiites at the expense of Sunni Muslims, who made up the elite under Saddam Hussein.
But Syria's decision to re-establish ties after 23 years of severance could be key to easing the insurgency in Iraq and boosting regional security, given Syria's 499km shared border with Iraq and its strong ties with Iraq's Sunni tribes, analysts said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa told delegates in the closed meeting Saturday that legal measures to resume diplomatic ties with Iraq would be taken "at the earliest possible time," Syria's official news agency SANA reported.
Syria is interested in Iraq's stability, unity and security "so that it can play its full role in the Arab and international arenas," he was quoted as saying.
The announcement, signaling a change in Syrian policy toward Iraq, could be "instrumental" in quelling Iraq's insurgency, said Iraq expert Gamal Abdel Gawad.
"Syria may be more able than any other [neighbor] to play an important role in convincing the Sunni Arabs to show some flexibility regarding the political process," Abdel Gawad said by telephone from his base in Cairo. Saudi Arabia and Egypt have less influence on the tribes in Iraq.
At the same time, Syria is at juncture "when it needs to offer a positive gesture to reduce the pressure and to show that there is response to pressure and it needs no more," Abdel Gawad said by telephone from his base in Cairo.
The US has accused Syria of sponsoring terrorism and letting terrorists slip through its borders with Iraq. But Damascus faced mounting pressure from the US, the UN and key Arab nations following the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
HIGH HOPES: The power source is expected to have a future, as it is not dependent on the weather or light, and could be useful for places with large desalination facilities A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis — when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one — has long been known. However, actually generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass. Engineers in Fukuoka, Japan, and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world’s second osmotic power plant. It generates
Hundreds of Filipinos and tourists flocked to a sun-bleached field north of Manila yesterday, on Good Friday, to witness one of the country’s most blood-soaked displays of religious fervor, undeterred by rising fuel prices. Scores of bare-chested flagellants with covered faces walked barefoot through the dusty streets of Pampanga Province’s San Fernando as they flogged their backs with bamboo whips in the scorching heat. Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists said they saw devotees deliberately puncturing their skin with glass shards attached to a small wooden paddle to ensure their bleeding during the ritual, a way to atone for sins and seek miracles from
Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen (高兟), famous for making provocative satirical sculptures of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), was tried on Monday over accusations of “defaming national heroes and martyrs,” his wife and a rights group said. Gao, 69, who was detained in 2024 during a visit from the US, faces a maximum three-year prison sentence, said his wife, Zhao Yaliang (趙雅良), and Shane Yi, a researcher at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group which operates outside the nation. The closed-door, one-day trial took place at Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei Province neighboring the capital, Beijing, and ended without a
RSS