Syria’s Assad urges national reconciliation among Iraqis

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed that the stability of Iraq is a “vital” question for the stability of the Middle East region as a whole, adding this can never be achieved except through national reconciliation among Iraqis. “Foreign occupation has to be terminated and national reconciliation achieved among Iraqis in order to maintain Iraq’s unity and independence away from any dependence on foreign will,” the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted Assad as saying in a speech he delivered at the inauguration of the 2nd ordinary session of the transitional Arab parliament in Damascus. Assad expressed Syria’s support for all the efforts exerted to render success a national dialogue. “The latest U.S. military strike on Syrian territories indicates that the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq poses a constant threat to Iraq’s neighbors and constitutes a factor of instability in the region,” the Syrian president said. In late October 2008, U.S. military choppers had raided the Syrian area of al-Bu Kamal, near the borders with Iraq, leaving eight people killed. The U.S. military argued that the raid targeted a leading member of al-Qaeda network who was in charge of bringing foreign gunmen into Iraq, particularly after Syria “failed” to adopt measures against him. Damascus termed as “terrorist aggression” the raid, threatening response if it happened again. The Syrian president noted that the security agreement between Baghdad and Washington aims at turning Iraq into a base to strike neighbors, noting the strengthening of Arab presence in Iraq “is the responsibility of all of us and there has to be a unified Arab stance”. The Iraqi and U.S. sides have been negotiating a long-term security pact to determine the legal nature of the U.S. presence on Iraqi soil after the end of this year, when an international mandate granted to the U.S. army in Iraq is scheduled to expire. AmR (S)/SR 1