Syria's Sharaa Skips Iraq Summit After Firestorm Over Invitation

French President Emmanuel Macron (not pictured) receives Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 07 May 2025. (EPA)

06:08-13 May 2025 AD ـ 17 Thul-Qi’dah 1446 AH

French President Emmanuel Macron (not pictured) receives Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, 07 May 2025. (EPA)

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will not attend the Arab League Summit in Baghdad this weekend, Syrian state media said on Monday, after Iraq's invitation spurred criticism from pro-Iran groups.

Syria's delegation to Saturday's summit will be headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, state-owned Ekhbariya TV reported, without providing a reason for Sharaa's absence. The summit is expected to focus on Gaza reconstruction and the Palestinian issue.

Sharaa's decision highlighted Syria's mixed results establishing ties across the region after former President Bashar al-Assad's ouster last year. Sharaa has made rapid inroads with Gulf Arab states Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but has tread more carefully with others where Iran has had strong influence, like Iraq.

Several influential Iraqi politicians had voiced opposition to Sharaa's visit.

They include former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, a leading member of Iraq's main pro-Iran coalition that holds a parliamentary majority.

Armed groups aligned with Tehran had also joined the call against Sharaa, including the Kataeb Hezbollah faction, which previously fought in Syria alongside Assad's forces.

Sharaa fought with Al-Qaeda in Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003. He was imprisoned there for more than five years, then released for lack of evidence in 2011, according to a senior Iraqi security official.

Several Iraqi security sources told AFP that an old arrest warrant for Sharaa from his time as a member of Al-Qaeda remains in place.

However, authorities seek good relations with Syria's new leadership to help maintain regional stability, the sources said.

Sunni politicians largely welcomed Sharaa's participation in the summit as a step towards pulling Iraq away from Iran and towards the Arab fold.

"There are elements... working against Iraq's progress to reclaim its rightful place within the Arab community," said Raad al-Dahlaki, head of Azm Alliance, a major Sunni bloc in Iraq's parliament.

Halt of Iranian Flights Sparks Debate within Iraq’s Ruling Coalition

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with US President Donald Trump in New York on September 23, 2026. (Iraqi government)

Baghdad: Hamza Mustafa

23:41-27 September 2026 AD ـ 16 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1448 AH

Baghdad: Hamza Mustafa

23:41-27 September 2026 AD ـ 16 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1448 AH

Halt of Iranian Flights Sparks Debate within Iraq’s Ruling Coalition

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with US President Donald Trump in New York on September 23, 2026. (Iraqi government)

The Iraqi government's decision to enforce the US Treasury Department's ban on Iranian aviation remains highly contentious, as factions within the ruling Coordination Framework refuse to comply despite Baghdad's officially declared commitment to the policy.

According to a government source, Baghdad has received a serious American warning against receiving any Iranian airline at Iraqi airports. The government of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had, however, requested that Washington grant it an exemption from the flight ban for certain airports, including Najaf airport, for humanitarian reasons.

According to an informed political source, "Iraq is currently caught between the American hammer and the Iranian anvil."

The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that "the situation in reality appears extremely difficult, as complying with Tehran's desire to completely ignore the flight ban could result in sanctions that Iraq can no longer tolerate.”

“This is particularly critical given that a shipment of US dollars is scheduled to arrive in Baghdad soon, as part of successful talks held by al-Zaidi with the US administration, specifically President Donald Trump, during his participation in the United Nations General Assembly meetings,” it added.

According to the informed political source, "leaders of the Coordination Framework are attempting to strike a middle ground during their discussions with and in the presence of al-Zaidi, in terms of not going too far in defying the US decision, while simultaneously declaring their support for the PM’s efforts to secure a single exemption, even if only for Najaf airport."

A government source confirmed on Sunday that Baghdad "has received a serious and direct American warning that continuing to receive any Iranian airline at Iraqi airports exposes the airport, as well as the entities and companies providing services to these flights, to US sanctions."

"The Americans made it clear to the Iraqi government that the punitive measures will not be limited solely to the sanctioned Iranian airlines, but could also extend to any entity or airport providing services or facilitating the operation of those companies' flights, including landing, ground handling, refueling, and other services,” it said.

"This warning has left the government with a single option: to avoid exposing Iraqi airports, the aviation sector, and the operating entities to US sanctions,” it continued.

"The decision was not linked to an Iraqi political stance regarding air traffic with Iran, but rather came as a result of the legal and economic risks resulting from US sanctions,” it explained.

Arab World

Syrian Security Forces Arrest Official Responsible for Torture of Child Hamza al-Khatib in Daraa

Hamza al-Khatib became a symbol of the Syrian revolution. (SANA)

23:24-27 September 2026 AD ـ 16 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1448 AH

Syrian Security Forces Arrest Official Responsible for Torture of Child Hamza al-Khatib in Daraa

Hamza al-Khatib became a symbol of the Syrian revolution. (SANA)

Syrian Internal Security Forces arrested Brig. Gen. Jaber Mehrez Ibrahim, who served as commander of the 138th Air Defense Brigade in the town of Saida during the era of the deposed regime, following a precise surveillance and tracking operation, reported Syria’s state news agency SANA on Sunday.

Records and preliminary investigations showed that Ibrahim was involved in issuing orders to kill and arrest people and suppress protesters, as well as participating in military campaigns targeting villages and towns in eastern Daraa countryside, pursuing civilians and targeting their homes.

Investigations also indicate that he was directly responsible for the Saida Housing massacre, in which nearly 120 people were killed, and that his name was linked to systematic arrests and torture involving a large number of people from the province, including child martyr Hamza al-Khatib.

The ousted regime arrested al-Khatib, 13, in the early days of the Syrian uprising that erupted in the city of Daraa on March 18, 2011. He died under torture in detention.

On May 21, 2011, al-Khatib’s tortured and mutilated body was returned to his family, weeks after his arrest during an anti-government demonstration.

His death, alongside the torture of other children and teenagers arrested for writing anti-Assad graffiti, triggered widespread protests and a brutal crackdown by government forces.

Following the ouster of the regime in December 2024, the new authorities launched a crackdown against former officials and military personnel. Ibrahim’s arrest is part of these ongoing prosecutions over allegations of abuses committed during the former regime's years in power.

Arab World

Hezbollah Chief Says Israel Unable to ‘Break’ Group on Anniversary of Nasrallah’s Killing

Supporters of Hezbollah shout slogans as they watch a televised speech by Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem during a ceremony held to mark the second anniversary of the killing of former leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike by Israel, in Beirut's southern suburbs on September 27, 2026. (AFP)

23:10-27 September 2026 AD ـ 16 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1448 AH

Hezbollah Chief Says Israel Unable to ‘Break’ Group on Anniversary of Nasrallah’s Killing

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem told supporters gathered in Lebanon on Sunday to mark two years since the killing of longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah that Israel had been unable to break his Iran-backed group.

The party was weakened after all-out war with Israel in 2024, but regrouped and drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict in March this year by attacking Israel, which responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

Hezbollah has demonstrated that Israel and its soldiers "were unable to achieve their goals to break the resistance, end its existence, consolidate the Israeli occupation and establish settlements in Lebanon", Qassem said in a televised speech broadcast at the gathering.

AFP correspondents saw tens of thousands of people, some carrying Hezbollah, Lebanese and Iranian flags or pictures of Nasrallah, rallying for the commemorative event near the slain leader's tomb in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold that Israel bombed during conflicts this year and in 2024.

Some in the crowd chanted "death to America, death to Israel".

Nasrallah, a leader revered by his supporters but who headed a group whose armed wing is blacklisted by many Western capitals, was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on September 27, 2024.

The assassination came during more than two months of all-out war that pummeled Hezbollah and decimated its top leadership.

Nasrallah's chosen successor Hashem Safieddine, who was also being commemorated on Sunday, was killed in another strike days after his predecessor.

The latest hostilities have further weakened the group.

- 'Liberate the south' -

Ali Nasser, 30, from Haddatha in south Lebanon, said "this is a historic day. Every year we commemorate it to renew our pledge" to Nasrallah "that we are walking along his path".

The former chief "illuminated the path for us and God willing, we'll carry on... these crowds are proof of our continuation and our loyalty to this pledge", he added.

After a November 2024 ceasefire, Lebanese authorities committed to disarming Hezbollah and banned the group's military activities after it drew Lebanon into this year's Middle East war.

Violence in Lebanon has decreased since a fragile ceasefire announced in June after the signing of a US-Iran understanding on the broader conflict.

Lebanon and Israel reached a framework agreement later that month, under which Hezbollah is supposed to disarm and the Lebanese military to deploy in so-called pilot zones in south Lebanon as Israel withdraws.

But progress has largely stalled, with Israel warning it will stay put as long as Hezbollah remains a threat.

"We are ready for dialogue and discussion, but first, liberate the south, and let the people return," Qassem said.

He said that with the framework agreement, "the authorities are helping the Israeli-US project instead of confronting it".

"All the pressure on Lebanon today aims to accomplish what Israel was unable to achieve over two years," he said, adding that the Lebanese national army should not be used as "a tool" against the group.

Israel has kept up its attacks and maintains troops in a self-declared "security zone" running around 10 kilometers (six miles) inside south Lebanon.

Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Sunday for the annexation of areas of south Lebanon under Israeli military control "as far as the Litani River", which runs about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.

Qassem said holding onto positions "is not the main objective" for his group, after Israel carried out massive detonations this month to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure on the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge.

"With the great sacrifices that we have made up until now, we can only keep going, and we cannot be defeated," Qassem vowed.

Syria's Sharaa Skips Iraq Summit After Firestorm Over Invitation

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