Iraq-Kurd Forum Pushes Israel Normalization, Baghdad Condemns

An aerial view of Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 11, 2021. (Reuters)
An aerial view of Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 11, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iraq-Kurd Forum Pushes Israel Normalization, Baghdad Condemns

An aerial view of Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 11, 2021. (Reuters)
An aerial view of Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 11, 2021. (Reuters)

More than 300 Iraqis, including tribal leaders, called for a normalization of ties with Israel at a conference in autonomous Kurdistan organized by a US think-tank, drawing a chorus of condemnation Saturday from Baghdad.

The first initiative of its kind in Iraq, a historic foe of Israel and where its sworn enemy Iran has a strong influence, the conference was held Friday.

The organizers, the New York-based Center for Peace Communications (CPC), advocates for normalizing relations between Israel and Arab countries, alongside working to establish ties between civil society organizations.

Iraqi Kurdistan maintains cordial contacts with Israel, but the federal government in Baghdad, which has fought in Arab-Israeli wars, does not have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.

Four Arab nations -- the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan -- last year agreed to normalize ties with Israel in a US-sponsored process dubbed the Abraham Accords.

“We demand our integration into the Abraham Accords,” said Sahar al-Tai, one of the attendees, reading a closing statement in a conference room at a hotel in the Kurdish regional capital Erbil.

“Just as these agreements provide for diplomatic relations between the signatories and Israel, we also want normal relations with Israel,” she said.

“No force, local or foreign, has the right to prevent this call,” added Tai, head of research at the federal government’s culture ministry.

‘Traitors’
However, the federal government rejected the conference’s call for normalization in a statement on Saturday and dismissed the gathering as an “illegal meeting”.

The conference “was not representative of the population’s (opinion) and that of residents in Iraqi cities, in whose name these individuals purported to speak,” the statement said.

The office of Iraqi President Barham Salih, himself a Kurd, joined in the condemnation.

Influential cleric Moqtada Sadr urged the government to “arrest all the participants”, while Ahmed Assadi, an MP with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), branded them “traitors in the eyes of the law”.

The culture ministry, in a statement, said its employee Tai who attended the Erbil forum did not represent the ministry, but she had taken part as “a member of a (civil society) organization”.

The 300 participants at the conference came from across Iraq, according to CPC founder Joseph Braude, a US citizen of Iraqi Jewish origin.

They included representatives from “six governorates: Baghdad, Mosul, Salaheddine, Al-Anbar, Diyala and Babylon,” extending to tribal chiefs and “intellectuals and writers”, he told AFP by phone.

Other speakers at the conference included Chemi Peres, the head of an Israeli foundation established by his father, the late president Shimon Peres.

“Normalization with Israel is now a necessity,” said Sheikh Rissan al-Halboussi, an attendee from Anbar province, citing the examples of Morocco and the UAE.



Syrians Rejoice during First Eid after Assad's Fall

Hundreds of Syrian Muslims perform Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Grand Mosque in Maarat al-Numan in Idlib, Syria, 31 March 2025.  EPA/BILAL AL HAMMOUD
Hundreds of Syrian Muslims perform Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Grand Mosque in Maarat al-Numan in Idlib, Syria, 31 March 2025. EPA/BILAL AL HAMMOUD
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Syrians Rejoice during First Eid after Assad's Fall

Hundreds of Syrian Muslims perform Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Grand Mosque in Maarat al-Numan in Idlib, Syria, 31 March 2025.  EPA/BILAL AL HAMMOUD
Hundreds of Syrian Muslims perform Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Grand Mosque in Maarat al-Numan in Idlib, Syria, 31 March 2025. EPA/BILAL AL HAMMOUD

Eid al-Fitr in Syria was charged with newfound joy this year, as thousands freely celebrated the holiday for the first time after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

From the early morning hours, crowds of men, women and children flocked to pray at Damascus's historic Umayyad Mosque in the Old City.

"This is the first time we truly feel the joy of Eid, after getting rid of Assad's tyrannical regime," Fatima Othman told AFP.

Following prayer, worshippers exchanged Eid greetings while street vendors sold colorful balloons and toys to children posing for photos with their parents.

"Our celebration is doubled after Assad's fall," said Ghassan Youssef, a resident of the capital.

A few kilometers (miles) away, on the slopes of Mount Qasyun overlooking Damascus -- a site previously off-limits to Syrians until Assad was deposed on December 8 -- a few thousand people gathered at Unknown Soldier Square for an open-air prayer.

Among them were members of the security forces and the army, dressed in uniform and armed. The road leading to the square was packed, according to an AFP photographer.

Some worshippers distributed sweets to celebrate, while the three-star Syrian flag, adopted by the new authorities, waved in the air.

Under the previous government, access to the Unknown Soldier monument was typically restricted to Assad and his close associates, who would lay wreaths there during national ceremonies.

'Celebration of celebrations!'
The memorial, where a giant screen broadcast the Eid prayer, is near the presidential palace.

There, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa prayed alongside Syria's new mufti Osama al-Rifai and several cabinet ministers in the presence of a large crowd.

He later delivered a speech emphasizing the country faced "a long and arduous road to reconstruction but possesses all the resources needed to recover".

This came two days after the formation of a new government, which faces daunting challenges in a country devastated by 14 years of civil war.

Wael Hamamiya, who had been in Sweden since the early days of the conflict, returned to Damascus to celebrate Eid with his family.

"This is my first Eid here in nearly 15 years. I truly feel the celebration in its full meaning," he told AFP, beaming.

"Everyone who has come is over the moon. This is the celebration of celebrations!"

The occasion was more somber for some Syrians, who were able to visit the graves of loved ones that had been off-limits during Assad reign, especially in former opposition strongholds.

At al-Rawda Cafe in Damascus, 36-year-old Amer Hallaq chatted with friends after returning from exile in Berlin where he ended up after dodging compulsory military service in 2014.

"For years, I thought I'd never see my family again or celebrate Eid with them," Hallaq said.

"The joy of liberation and victory is immense, but there's still a lot of work ahead. This is only the beginning of the road."