25-04-2024 04:04 AM Jerusalem Timing

Iraqi FM Meets Assad in Damascus

Iraqi FM Meets Assad in Damascus

Iraqi foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met Tuesday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the first visit by a senior Baghdad official since Syria’s conflict began in 2011.

Iraqi FM Ibrahim al-Jaafari (L), Syrian FM Walid al-Moallem (R) in Damascus airportIraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met Tuesday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the first visit by a senior Baghdad official since Syria's conflict began in 2011.

Jaafari told a press conference at Damascus airport that he met with Assad on Tuesday morning and held talks with his Syrian counterpart Walid Moallem.

"This is something that everyone must be committed to doing," Jaafari said in a joint press conference with Moallem before leaving Damascus.

“It is odd to have any neighboring country feeling at ease with terrorism that kills children and is indiscriminate towards people,” Jaafari added.

Moallem, for his part, said Syria and Iraq stand “in the same trench” against terrorism.

“Whenever Iraq is okay, Syria is okay too, and that’s why we are deeply confident that the Iraqi leaders have never spared any efforts to support Syria and help break the siege imposed on it,” he added.

Commenting on statements made by the Jordanian Information Minister that Amman is training Syrian tribes on the Jordanian territory, Moallem said the statements did not come up with anything new, “except that they prove what we have been saying about the existence of training camps for terrorists in Jordan.”

In June 2014, Damascus announced readiness to coordinate with Baghdad in order to face the threat posed by the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group, operating in both countries.