CAIRO: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani met on Thursday in Qatar with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the first encounter between the two leaders, Iraqi and Syrian state news agencies reported.
The meeting was brokered by Qatar, with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani present. It came ahead of Sharaa’s expected attendance at the Arab Summit in Baghdad on May 17.
In January, Sharaa was named as interim president and pledged to form an inclusive transitional government that would build up the Syrian Arab Republic’s gutted public institutions and run the country until elections, which he said could take up to five years to hold.
Syria issued a constitutional declaration, designed to serve as the foundation for the interim period led by Sharaa. The declaration kept a central role for Islamic law and guaranteed women’s rights and freedom of expression.
During Thursday’s meeting, Al-Sudani called for the beginning of a comprehensive political process and the protection of social, religious, and national diversity in Syria, especially after an attack on Alawites last month.
Hundreds of Alawites were killed in Syria’s western coastal region in apparent retribution for a deadly ambush on Syria’s new security forces by armed loyalists to toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad, an Alawite.
The Iraqi prime minister also stressed the importance of the new Syrian government taking serious steps to combat Daesh militants.
He said progress made on these issues could help in building growing relations between Baghdad and Damascus.
Both leaders agreed to respect the sovereignty of the two countries and reject all kinds of foreign interference.
Iraqi and Syrian leaders meet in Qatar, marking significant first encounter
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Iraqi and Syrian leaders meet in Qatar, marking significant first encounter
- Meeting brokered by Qatar, with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani present
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
