Maliki receives landmark phone call from Syria’s PM

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki received a phone call on Thursday from his Syrian counterpart Muhammad Naji al-Utri and discussed bilateral relations, according to a statement by Maliki’s office. The phone contact is the first in more than a year of boycott after Maliki accused Damascus of being involved in the deadly blasts that targeted the buildings of the Iraqi foreign and finance ministries buildings in August 2009. “The call took up means to further bilateral ties between the two neighborly countries at the political and economic levels,” read the release as received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The two sides underlined the importance of working on developing bilateral relations to the interests of both countries, it added. Iraqi-Syrian relations have been strained after the Iraqi government, spurred by bloody blasts that struck Baghdad in August last year and left dozens killed or wounded, decided to resort to the UN Security Council for investigations into the incident. The Iraqi government have then called for setting up an international tribunal and requested the Syrians to hand over Baathist leaders believed involved in several suicide attacks in some Iraqi cities. AmR (S) 3