Syria and Iraq Assert Correlated Joint Security

Iraqi President Abdullatif Rashid received Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (dpa)
Iraqi President Abdullatif Rashid received Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (dpa)
TT

Syria and Iraq Assert Correlated Joint Security

Iraqi President Abdullatif Rashid received Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (dpa)
Iraqi President Abdullatif Rashid received Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (dpa)

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, was invited Sunday to visit Syria to discuss prospects for bilateral cooperation and coordinate joint action toward consolidating security and stability in the region.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, who is visiting Iraq, conveyed the invitation.

Mekdad stressed during his meeting with Sudani in Baghdad the importance of maintaining the unity of the Syrian territories and the interdependence of Iraqi national security with the security of Syria.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister's media office said the talks highlighted the need to promote bilateral relations.

The Foreign Minister expressed Syria's support for Iraq, reiterating its pivotal role in the region and efforts to consolidate the relationship between the Arab brothers and regional countries.

Mekdad indicated that Syria seeks joint action to face common challenges and cooperate in combating terrorism and eliminating the danger of drugs.

The top diplomat affirmed that Syria was looking forward to joint work with Iraq in combating terrorist organizations and their threats to common security with Iraq.

"We will continue to cooperate to combat terrorism and eliminate the danger posed by drugs,” he said.

During his visit to Baghdad, Mekdad also met his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein and discussed the issue of refugees. They also discussed the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

In a joint press conference at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Mekdad said: "We believe in political, military, and economic coordination," stressing the need to end the imbalances that Syria faces amid the presence of terrorist organizations, namely ISIS-affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra in Idlib governorate.

Mekdad also praised Iraq for coming to the aid of Syria following the earthquake and thanked the Iraqi people for helping their "other half" in the country.

Iraqi support

Hussein reiterated that Syria's security directly affects Iraq's situation and vice versa.

The Iraqi official indicated that Iraq was among the Arab countries that called for Syria's return to the Arab League.

Drug trafficking issue

Hussein said Syria is going through challenging circumstances and needs action at the regional and international levels, stressing that the Syrian refugees are an integral part of this matter.

"We received about 250,000 refugees," said Hussein, adding that most of them live in camps in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. He noted the ongoing discussions regarding the Syrian situation.

The Iraqi official explained that the meeting addressed the cooperation to fight cross-border drug trafficking.

Border control

Security expert Sarmad al-Bayati believed many security visions for border control were not applicable, noting that Iraq now controls 90 percent of its border.

Bayati told Asharq Al-Awsat that many areas within the Syrian border are not controlled by government forces, noting that the danger increases towards the north, as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) forces control many areas.

He explained that there were imbalances in implementing the visions, explaining that drug trafficking is a complicated issue amid various smuggling outlets across multiple border areas.

Head of the Republican Center for Strategic Studies, Moataz Mohieddin, said Mekdad's visit to Baghdad was important for both countries to limit infiltration of terrorists, noting that the Ministries of Defense and Interior must activate several agreements.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Mohieddin indicated that it was necessary to organize joint forces for the borders between Iraq and Syria, adding that it was crucial to establish electronic fences and control towers to monitor the territories.

 



Tens of Thousands Go Hungry in Sudan after Trump Aid Freeze

(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Tens of Thousands Go Hungry in Sudan after Trump Aid Freeze

(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

For the first time in nearly two years of war, soup kitchens in famine-stricken Sudan are being forced to turn people away, with US President Donald Trump's aid freeze gutting the life-saving schemes.

"People will die because of these decisions," said a Sudanese fundraising volunteer, who has been scrambling to find money to feed tens of thousands of people in the capital Khartoum.

"We have 40 kitchens across the country feeding between 30,000 to 35,000 people every day," another Sudanese volunteer told AFP, saying all of them had closed after Trump announced the freezing of foreign assistance and the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

"Women and children are being turned away and we can't promise them when we can feed them again," she said, requesting anonymity for fear that speaking publicly could jeopardize her work.

In much of Sudan, community-run soup kitchens are the only thing preventing mass starvation and many of them rely on US funding.

"The impact of the decision to withdraw funding in this abrupt manner has life-ending consequences," Javid Abdelmoneim, medical team leader at Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, told AFP.

"This is yet another disaster for people in Sudan, already suffering the consequences of violence, hunger, a collapse of the healthcare system and a woeful international humanitarian response," he added.

Shortly after his inauguration last month, Trump froze US foreign aid and announced the dismantling of USAID.

His administration then issued waivers for "life-saving humanitarian assistance", but there have so far been no signs of this taking effect in Sudan and aid workers said their efforts were already crippled.

In what the United Nations has decried as a global "state of confusion", agencies on the ground in Sudan have been forced to halt essential food, shelter and health operations.

"All official communications have gone dark," another Sudanese aid coordinator told AFP, after USAID workers were put on leave this week.

The kitchens that have survived "are stretching resources and sharing as much as they can", he said.

"But there's just not enough to go around."

As one of the few independent organizations still standing in Sudan, MSF said it had been fielding requests from local responders to quickly step in.

However, "MSF can't fill the gap left by the US funding withdrawal," Abdelmoneim said.

The United States was the largest single donor to Sudan last year, contributing $800 million or around 46 percent of funds to the UN's response plan.

The UN estimates it currently has less than 6 percent of the humanitarian funding needed for Sudan in 2025.

Over 8 million people are on the brink of famine in Sudan, according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

Famine is expected to spread to at least five more areas of Sudan by May, before the upcoming rainy season is likely to make access to food all the more difficult across the country.