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29 March 2024

Syrian regime will not fall: Iraq PM

Supporters of Syrian President Bashar AAssad run for cover as Turkish riot police use tear gas against them during a demonstration outside the "Friends of Syria" conference in Istanbul on Sunday April 1. (Reuters)

Published
By AFP

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad's regime will not fall and attempts to overthrow it by force will aggravate the crisis in the region, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki said on Sunday.

"It has been one year and the regime did not fall, and it will not fall, and why should it fall?" Maliki told a news conference in Baghdad.

"We reject any arming (of Syrian rebels) and the process to overthrow the regime, because this will leave a greater crisis in the region," Maliki said.

His comments were Iraq's strongest statement yet on the year-long Syria crisis, and is another attack on the position of states that advocate arming Syrian rebels and have called for Assad's departure.

These states sent low-level delegations to a landmark Arab summit in Baghdad on Thursday.

Without naming them, Maliki said "the stance of these two states is very strange. They are calling for sending arms instead of working on putting out the fire, and they will hear our voice, that we are against arming and against foreign interference."

"We are against the interference of some countries in Syria's internal affairs, and those countries that are interfering in Syria's internal affairs will interfere in the internal affairs of any country," the Iraqi leader added.

He was speaking as delegates from dozens of European, Arab and other countries met in Istanbul to consider ways of supporting Syrian opposition representatives and to apply further pressure on Assad's regime.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said earlier that senior Iraqi officials were present at the "Friends of Syria" meeting, after comments by Maliki's spokesman that Iraq might not attend in order to preserve its role as mediator.

"Iraq is taking part in the second meeting of the Friends of Syria in Istanbul, and the deputy foreign minister and our permanent representative at the Arab League are attending the conference," Zebari told AFP.