Syria Today | Assad meets Sadr for unity talks

Assad meets Sadr for unity talks

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad urged Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to press forward with Iraqi national reconciliation efforts during talks in Damascus on July 20, Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported.

Assad and Sadr discussed the situation in Iraq and the increase in violence since the US pulled back its troops from urban areas in June, the head of Sadr’s delegation to Damascus Sheikh Raiid al-Kazami told the AKI news agency.

American combat troops pulled out of Iraqi cities to their military bases on June 30, in keeping with a bilateral security agreement negotiated in 2008. Since the pullback, Iraq has witnessed a growth in insurgent activity.

Assad and Sadr, head of the Mahdi Army, one of the biggest militias in Iraq, discussed the urgent need for reconciliation among the country’s different religious sects and Syria’s support for this goal, SANA reported.

Assad emphasised “the importance of promoting national reconciliation among the Iraqi people and Syria’s keenness to support any effort aimed at achieving this goal for the sake of preserving the security and stability of Iraq”, a statement from the presidential palace said.

Sadr said he appreciated Syria’s support of the Iraqi people and efforts to bring about national reconciliation.

The cleric, a vocal critic of US policy in the region, has complained in recent months that the Iraqi government is not serious enough in its commitment to have US troops leave the country.

Since 2007, Sadr’s Mahdi Army has observed a ceasefire that is widely credited with reducing sectarian tensions and contributing significantly to the fall in violence in recent years. Sadr’s support base consists predominantly of poor urban Shiites and he is known as one of the most influential religious and political figures in Iraq without holding any official title in its government.