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Baghdad, Washington Renew Commitment to Strategic Framework Agreement

A handout picture released by the prime minister's office shows Mohamed Shia al-Sudani arriving for the official handover ceremony at the Republican Palace, the government's seat, in Baghdad's green zone. (Iraq's prime minister's office/ AFP)
A handout picture released by the prime minister's office shows Mohamed Shia al-Sudani arriving for the official handover ceremony at the Republican Palace, the government's seat, in Baghdad's green zone. (Iraq's prime minister's office/ AFP)
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Baghdad, Washington Renew Commitment to Strategic Framework Agreement

A handout picture released by the prime minister's office shows Mohamed Shia al-Sudani arriving for the official handover ceremony at the Republican Palace, the government's seat, in Baghdad's green zone. (Iraq's prime minister's office/ AFP)
A handout picture released by the prime minister's office shows Mohamed Shia al-Sudani arriving for the official handover ceremony at the Republican Palace, the government's seat, in Baghdad's green zone. (Iraq's prime minister's office/ AFP)

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani received on Thursday a telephone call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who congratulated him on the October 27 formation of his government.

During the call, both sides affirmed their mutual commitment to the US-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement signed in 2009 and underscored the importance of strengthening and developing bilateral ties in various fields, according to a statement by the PM’s office.

Blinken also conveyed that the US is eager to work with the government and people of Iraq to improve respect for human rights, increase economic opportunities, advance Iraq’s energy independence, and address the climate crisis.

He reaffirmed the US commitment to supporting Iraq in the enduring defeat of ISIS and welcomed Sudani’s call for reforms and pledge to fight endemic corruption.

They further shared interest in preserving Iraq’s security, stability, and sovereignty.

Sudani has met with US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski about four times since taking office.

Meanwhile, the Coordination Framework forces question Washington’s seriousness, whether in withdrawing from Iraq or establishing balanced relations with it, especially after the killing of Iran’s Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.

The Strategic Framework Agreement signed by the government of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and then-US President Barack Obama is divided into two parts. The first stipulates the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq by late 2011, and the second part ensures, among other things, keeping advisers and technicians to train Iraqi forces.

Following their withdrawal from Iraq in late 2011, former Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi asked for their return to help in defeating ISIS, which seized three provinces west of the country in June 2014.

However, after Iraq declared victory over ISIS in late 2017, the presence of US forces in the country sparked disputes among political parties, given that the US formed an international coalition to defeat the terrorist group including more than 60 countries.

On January 6, 2020, Iraq’s parliament issued a non-bonding decision compelling the government, then headed by Adel Abdul-Mahdi, to expel US troops in the aftermath of the US-targeted killing of Soleimani and Muhandis.

When Mustafa al-Kadhimi became prime minister, he engaged in long discussions with Washington to reconsider the agreement amid a comprehensive rejection of the American presence by many armed factions that targeted with missiles the fortified Green Zone, where the US embassy is located, for more than a year.

After two visits by Kadhimi to Washington, the Strategic Framework Agreement was renewed and both sides announced their commitment to it.

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Arab World

Displaced Syrians Who Have Returned Home Face a Fragile Future, Says UN Refugees Chief

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
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Displaced Syrians Who Have Returned Home Face a Fragile Future, Says UN Refugees Chief

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday that more than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home since the fall of the government of Bashar al-Assad in December.

Speaking during a visit to Damascus that coincided with World Refugee Day, Grandi described the situation in Syria as “fragile and hopeful” and warned that the returnees may not remain if Syria does not get more international assistance to rebuild its war-battered infrastructure.

“How can we make sure that the return of the Syrian displaced or refugees is sustainable, that people don’t move again because they don’t have a house or they don’t have a job or they don’t have electricity?” Grandi asked a small group of journalists after the visit, during which he met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and spoke with returning refugees.

“What is needed for people to return, electricity but also schools, also health centers, also safety and security,” he said.

Syria’s near 14-year civil war, which ended last December with the ouster of Assad in a lightning opposition offensive, killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Grandi said that 600,000 Syrians have returned to the country since Assad’s fall, and about another 1.5 million internally displaced people returned to their homes in the same period.

However, there is little aid available for the returnees, with multiple crises in the region -- including the new Israel-Iran war -- and shrinking support from donors. The UNHCR has reduced programs for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, including healthcare, education and cash support for hundreds of thousands in Lebanon.

“The United States suspended all foreign assistance, and we were very much impacted, like others, and also other donors in Europe are reducing foreign assistance,” Grandi said, adding: “I tell the Europeans in particular, be careful. Remember 2015, 2016 when they cut food assistance to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, the Syrians moved toward Europe.”

Some have also fled for security reasons since Assad's fall. While the situation has stabilized since then, particularly in Damascus, the new government has struggled to extend its control over all areas of the country and to bring a patchwork of former opposition groups together into a national army.

Grandi said the UNHCR has been in talks with the Lebanese government, which halted official registration of new refugees in 2015, to register the new refugees and “provide them with basic assistance.”

“This is a complex community, of course, for whom the chances of return are not so strong right now,” he said. He said he had urged the Syrian authorities to make sure that measures taken in response to the attacks on civilians “are very strong and to prevent further episodes of violence.”

The Israel-Iran war has thrown further fuel on the flames in a region already dealing with multiple crises. Grandi noted that Iran is hosting millions of refugees from Afghanistan who may now be displaced again.

The UN does not yet have a sense of how many people have fled the conflict between Iran and Israel, he said.

“We know that some Iranians have gone to neighboring countries, like Azerbaijan or Armenia, but we have very little information. No country has asked for help yet,” he said. “And we have very little sense of the internal displacement, because my colleagues who are in Iran - they’re working out of bunkers because of the bombs.”