Syria's al-Sharaa receives Iraqi PM al-Zeidi in first visit since Assad's fall

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa received Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zeidi at Damascus International Airport, in the first visit by an Iraqi head of government to Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, to discuss security, the economy and energy.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa received Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zeidi and his accompanying delegation at Damascus International Airport on Wednesday, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

The visit is the first by an Iraqi head of government to Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024, and al-Zeidi's first since taking office last May, despite previous visits to Damascus by Iraqi political, security and judicial officials.

Security and economy on the agenda

The two sides are holding bilateral talks and an expanded meeting between the delegations of both countries at the presidential palace. The discussions cover security along their shared border, which is more than 600 kilometers long, counterterrorism, and economic and trade cooperation.

Iraqi oil heads to the Mediterranean through Syria

Iraq recently began exporting limited quantities of oil through Syrian territory after shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was disrupted. In July, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to revive the Haditha–Baniyas pipeline, which was built in 1952 and ceased operations in 2003. They also signed a memorandum with a consortium of three companies, including U.S. oil giant Chevron, to carry out the project.

In an interview with Iraq's Dijlah TV, al-Sharaa said relations had made good progress economically over the past year and a half, stressing that Syria does not view its relationship with Iraq through a sectarian or ethnic lens, but rather through their shared historical and economic ties.

The visit followed a stop in Jordan on Monday, where al-Zeidi met Jordan's King Abdullah II and signed nine cooperation documents with Jordanian Prime Minister Jafar Hassan in the fields of education, the environment, culture and the economy.

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