DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria's foreign minister is considering a visit to Baghdad in November - the first by a top Syrian official since the fall of Saddam Hussein and a major step toward restoring diplomatic relations, Iraqi and Syrian officials said Tuesday. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem is considering traveling to Iraq, said a Syrian Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give statements to the press.
In Baghdad, an Iraqi Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said the ministries agreed "in principal" that al-Moallem would visit Iraq in November. Both the Syrian and the Iraqi official said no date had been set.
Imad Fawzi Shueibi, a Syrian political analyst, said the visit sends a "clear Syrian message that what is happening in Iraq - the sectarian killing and violence - is a red line for Arab national security and Syrian national security that can't be accepted by Damascus."
| Other than the fact that they aided and abetted the Sunni end of the killing, you mean. It's the Shi'a fighting that bothers them. |
Damascus broke relations with Baghdad in 1982, accusing Iraq of inciting riots by the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. Damascus also sided with Iran in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Commercial ties improved during the last few years of Saddam's rule before he was overthrown in 2003, but no Syrian ministers have gone to Baghdad for more than six years.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad said in October that al-Moallem would visit Baghdad after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ended Oct. 23-24, and that he would discuss the restoration of diplomatic ties with senior Iraqi officials.
Syrian officials had said in February that Syria would exchange ambassadors with Iraq once a new Iraqi government was formed, marking the first time Damascus set a time frame for restoring full diplomatic ties. The new Iraqi government took office in May, but there has been no exchange of ambassadors.
| They lied but that's not unusual. |
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