Iraqi FM makes first visit to Syria since Assad's fall

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Monday began his first trip to Syria since the December 2024 ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Relations between the two countries have faced upheaval since the fall of Assad, who was a close ally of previous governments in Baghdad.

Iraq at first approached new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa cautiously but is now seeking to bolster trade and security cooperation with Syria, which is emerging from years of civil war.

An Iraqi diplomatic source told AFP that Hussein would meet Sharaa as well as Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bashir.

The visit seeks to “deepen joint cooperation in various political, security, economic and trade fields” and address regional and international developments, according to a statement from Hussein’s office.

His meetings will also explore “ways of strengthening coordination and consultation” on shared challenges, it added.

With its oil exports disrupted due to the Middle East war, Iraq in recent months has begun exporting limited amounts of oil through Syria.

Hussein is the first senior Iraqi political figure to visit Damascus since the new authorities took power, though other Iraqi officials have done so.

Iraqi intelligence chief Hamid al-Shatri visited the month Assad was ousted, while Syria’s Shaibani made his first trip to Baghdad in March last year.

In May 2025, several powerful Iraqi politicians voiced opposition to a planned visit by Sharaa to Iraq for an Arab League summit, with security sources telling AFP an old arrest warrant from his time as a member of Al-Qaeda remained in place.

Shaibani attended instead.

Sharaa was imprisoned for years in Iraq on charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda following the 2003 US-led invasion.

In February this year, the United States completed the transfer of 5,700 Islamic State group detainees, including hundreds of foreigners, from Syria to Iraq, after they had been held in Kurdish-run jails in northeast Syria for years.

In April, Iraq reopened a once-bustling border crossing with Syria more than a decade after it was closed to trade following the rise of IS.

Three crossings between the countries are now operational.

Iraqi authorities view the new crossing as strategic as it also helps link the country and neighbouring Gulf states to Turkey as part of a regional infrastructure development project.