Neigbhours Syria and Iraq to reinstate ambassadors

Sep 25, 2010, 9:14 GMT

Damascus - Neighbouring Syria and Iraq will reinstate ambassadors in each other's countries, part of a renewed effort to improve bilateral relations after a political war of words led to a tense fallout between the two countries last year.

According to Syrian political figures on Saturday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebarmet met with his Syrian counterpart, Walid al- Muallam, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York this week.

The sources said that the two nations were turning over a new page. The announcement that Syria would welcome an exchange of ambassadors came less than a week after Iraq said it signed an agreement with Damascus to build two crude oil pipelines to the Mediterranean Sea.

The rebuilding of full diplomatic ties comes just over a year after Iraq withdrew its ambassador from Syria, following the reinstatement of ambassadors in 2006.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government accused Syria of harbouring terrorists and allowing them to easily infiltrate his country. He said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government was providing refuge to militants involved in two Baghdad bombings that killed nearly 100 people and injured several hundreds more.

Immediately after those remarks were made, Damascus withdrew its ambassador from Iraq and denied any links to militants who carried out the attacks.

The two have had a history of tumultuous relations. In 1978, talks of an Iraq-Syria union collapsed and, later, Syria backed Iran in a war against Iraq.