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29 March 2024

Iraq team has 'positive' talks with Syria's Assad

Published
By AFP

An Iraqi team held "positive" talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday in a bid to end the deadlock over an Arab League plan to end nine months of bloodshed, its leader told AFP.

"I am on my way to Cairo for a meeting with the Arab League after holding positive talks with President Assad," National Security Adviser Falah al-Fayadh said.

The Iraqi initiative is aimed at opening a dialogue between the opposition and the Syrian government to reach a result that satisfies both sides, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in an interview with AFP on Thursday.

"America and Europe are afraid of the phase after Bashar al-Assad. That is why they understand the initiative" from Iraq, Maliki said.

The United Nations this week estimated that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the Syrian government's crackdown on dissent, now in its 10th month.

Shiite-led Iraq has so far shied away from punitive measures against Assad's Alawite Shiite regime, abstaining from both a vote to suspend Syria from the Arab League, and another to impose sanctions on Damascus.

There are fears among officials in Iraq, which has a substantial Sunni minority, that instability in neighbouring Sunni-majority Syria could spill over the border.