Iraq, Syria restore ties after 26 years
Middle East Desk Report

BAGHDAD—Iraq and Syria agreed to restore full diplomatic relations on Tuesday after a break of a quarter of a century, a move Iraq hopes may help stem what it says is Syrian support for militants.
Iraqi officials said three people were killed, including a baby, in a U.S. air strike on a Shi’ite militia stronghold in Baghdad during a raid to seize the leader of a kidnap cell suspected of involvement in the abduction of a U.S. soldier.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, making the first visit by a Syrian minister to Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, signed an accord with Iraqi counterpart Hoshiyar Zebari in which they agreed U.S. troops should stay in Iraq for now.
Moualem had earlier called for the setting of a timetable for the withdrawal of 140,000 U.S. troops. The document said troops should gradually withdraw once they were not needed.
Amid calls for President George W. Bush to open talks with U.S. adversaries Syria and Iran to help stabilize Iraq, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will fly to Tehran on Saturday and visit to Damascus soon, Zebari said.
Iranian and Iraqi officials said Iran has invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for talks in Tehran and, if he visits, he could join a summit between the Iranian and Iraqi presidents. U.S. and Iraqi leaders accuse Iran of backing Shi’ite militia groups and Syria of helping Sunni insurgents.
How far either foreign government can limit mounting sectarian violence in Iraq is unclear, as hundreds of deaths a week fuel fear and hatred at the heart of Iraqi society.
But United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday urged Iran and Syria to be “part of the solution” in Iraq and said he had spoken to both Assad and Ahmadinejad in recent days to urge them to help de-escalate the conflict.
Iraq ordered Syrian diplomats out after raiding the embassy in 1980. The two countries, then ruled by rival wings of the Arab nationalist Baath party, severed all ties in 1982, when Syria sided with Iran in the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have long accused Damascus of doing too little to stem the flow of foreign Islamist fighters and weapons across its long, porous border.
A senior U.S. official said Damascus must now follow words with action by strengthening the border. Syria says sealing the border is impossible and Iraq must do more to patrol its side.
The U.S. military said Tuesday’s air strike came after U.S. and Iraqi troops were fired on during a raid in which they captured seven people, including a man they said led a group linked to the kidnap of U.S. soldier Ahmed Kousay Altaie.
Iraqi-born Altaie was seized on October 23 after going to visit his Iraqi wife and relatives outside the safety of the heavily fortified Green Zone.
Iraqi security and health officials said three people were killed and at least 15 wounded in the air strike on Sadr city, the sprawling slum of more than 2 million that is a stronghold of the militia of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr.
The U.S. military said it had been unable to determine civilian casualties in what it described as “precision fire at identified enemy targets.”
“During the operation, Iraqi forces received small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire from enemy fighters. Supporting coalition aircraft received enemy ground fire,” it said.
The dead child, a baby boy, had a gaping skull wound. His uncle, Abu Ahmed, cradled him in his arms, the lifeless body wrapped in white cloth, a pacifier still around his neck.
“Where is this loser government? What is the fault of this child? Is he also militia? Does God, Islam accept this?” Abu Ahmed asked angrily.
Legislator Saleh al-Agaili, a member of Sadr’s movement, which provides key support for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in parliament, said he was withdrawing from the assembly in protest.
“People have not received anything from this government or the Americans but death,” he told state television, his clothes stained with the blood of the people whose house was hit.