Syria’s Al-Sharaa participation in Baghdad Arab Summit undecided

An Iraqi lawmaker said that it is still unclear if that Syria’s interim president Ahmed Al-Sharaa will attend the Arab summit in Baghdad, expected to be held late April. 

“The Arab League is tasked with sending the invitations to all the presidents and not by Iraq, however, until now no official invitations have been sent to any leaders of the Arab states, including an invitation to Ahmed Al-Sharaa,” Dylan Ghafoor, chairwoman of the foreign relations committee in the Iraqi parliament, told The New Arab. 

Asked whether Ahmed Al-Sharaa can attend the summit in Baghdad when he is accused of terror-related charges, the Iraqi lawmaker said she cannot currently answer what would be Iraq’s formal position since no formal invitations have been sent to any leaders, clarifying that Iraq would announce its official decision when those invitations are sent. 

“Regarding the issue of Ahmed Al-Sharaa, really it is not settled yet whether he would be invited or not or Iraq’s position towards that,” she stressed. 

“I think there is some kind of security cooperation between Iraq and Syria as an Iraqi security delegation visited Syria and bilateral relations are just at the level of security cooperation. I did not receive any formal information that that Iraq’s foreign minister will visit Syria soon,” Ghafoor added.

“Iraq stands with the legitimate demands of the Syrian people, who want freedom and a democratic government. We support the will of the people of Syria, as indicated in the previous statements,” she also said.

As the first official visit by an Iraqi official in the wake of the fallout of the former Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, Iraq’s Intelligence Chief, Hamid Al-Shatri visited Damascus late last year and discussed key issues related to security and Iraqi detainees in Syria with Ahmad Al-Sharaa. But, Iraq has yet to formally congratulate Al-Sharaa when he was named interim president of the country on 29 January. 

Egypt has received indications that Al-Sharaa will attend an emergency Arab summit in Cairo later this month, diplomatic sources have told TNA‘s Arabic-language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The summit, scheduled for 27 February, was called by Egypt to discuss the crisis in Gaza and counter Israeli and US plans to displace Palestinians from the besieged coastal enclave.

According to the sources, Egyptian officials are also working to arrange a meeting between President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Al-Sharaa on the summit’s sidelines.

Al-Sharaa’s attendance at the Cairo summit is widely viewed as a step towards Syria’s reintegration into the Arab diplomatic fold. Political analysts suggest his participation signals growing acceptance of Syria’s new leadership among key regional players, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.

“This is the beginning of Syria reclaiming its role in the Arab world,” political analyst Moayad Ghazlan had remarked to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. “It reflects a broad consensus among major Arab states on legitimising Syria’s new government.”

Al-Sharaa recently stated that his presence in Iraq and eventual association with al-Qaeda were driven by a desire to acquire combat experience and to “protect” the Iraqi people.

During an interview on The Rest of Politics podcast, Al-Sharaa claimed that, at the time, the fundamentalist and militant organisation did not have sufficient resources or the necessary expertise, which led him to seek opportunities to gain experience wherever possible.