Iraq’s KRG president meets Syria’s al-Sharaa in Damascus
Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus, on Monday during his first visit to Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government.
The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said al-Sharaa received Barzani at the People’s Palace in the Syrian capital. Syria Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaiban was also present.
In a statement on Telegram, the Syrian president said the two leaders discussed relations between the two sides and ways to enhance cooperation and coordination, particularly in the economic field.
They also discussed the latest developments in the region and a number of other issues of mutual interest, including contributing to security assistance and cooperation, it said.
Barzani and al-Sharaa first met on April 11, 2025, on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkiye. The two men met again on April 17, 2026, during the forum’s fifth edition.
|
|
|
What's behind KRG President Barzani’s visit to Syria
The issue of Kurdish rights: I think that’s going to be at the top of the agenda… Damascus has been engaged in negotiations with the Syrian Defence Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria, where a large portion of Syria’s Kurdish ethnic group lives.
Erbil has played a pivotal role in negotiations between Damascus and the SDF for the last several months trying to reach a resolution – that’s following an agreement in January between Damascus and the SDF to find a way to integrate the fighters of the SDF into the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Interior…
But that’s not the only thing that’s going to be on the agenda… they are going to be talking about how Damascus can continue to follow through with this integration process. But the process doesn’t only have to do with SDF fighters, there’s the issue of the ongoing detention of thousands of members of Daesh in the Al-Hol camp and the Al-Ruj camp in northeast Syria. What’s going to happen to them? Many of them are foreign citizens, some of them citizens of Iraq.
There’s also the issue of border security, preventing the smuggling of narcotics and weapons between Syria and Iraq.
The last issue, and also a very relevant one regarding what’s happening in the region, is the threat of Iranian-backed militias operating in the area – especially on the Iraqi side of the border – possibly in areas controlled by the KRG in northwest Iraq.
Coordination between Erbil and Damascus is going to be critical to prevent any of those groups from threatening either Syria or Iraq, or even neighbouring countries. Both leaders have confirmed on many occasions that they want to see a stable and secure Middle East and especially Syria.
|
|
|
