IRAQ: Iraq and Syria agree to restore full diplomatic ties; continuing attacks kill at least one civilian in Baghdad and wound at least a dozen others

Iraq and Syria agreed to restore full diplomatic relations on Tuesday (November 21) after a break of nearly a quarter of a century, a move Iraq hopes may help stem what it says is Syrian support for militants. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, making the first visit by a Syrian minister to Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, signed an accord with Iraqi counterpart Hoshiyar Zebari in which they agreed U.S. troops should stay in Iraq for now. Moualem had earlier called for the setting of a timetable for the withdrawal of 140,000 U.S. troops. The document contained wording used by the Iraqi and U.S. governments, saying troops should gradually withdraw once they were not needed. Amid calls for U.S. President George W. Bush to open talks with U.S. adversaries Syria and Iran to help stabilise Iraq, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is also flying to Tehran on Saturday (November 25). Washington and Iraqi leaders accuse Iran of backing Shi'ite militia groups and Syria of helping Sunni insurgents. How far either foreign government can limit mounting sectarian violence in Iraq is unclear, as hundreds of deaths a week fuel fear and hatred at the heart of Iraqi society. Syria and Iraq agreed to restore full diplomatic ties, reopening their embassies in Damascus and Baghdad. An agreement in principle was struck some months ago. Ambassadors with full rank would be named and flags raised over embassies shortly. At a news conference after the signing ceremony Zebari said, "We have explored all the fields of cooperation and the declaration or the agreement, which we have signed is to declare the restoration of full diplomatic relations between the two countries as a first step. Yes, we have discussed means and ways of commercial and economic cooperation even in the field of oil, in the field of water and commerce between the two countries." Moualem told reporters, "What we want to establish together in this visit is a mechanism for future cooperation in all fields and as long as the political decision and the political will in this regard are clear, so I hope and I wish that everything between the officials and those responsible of the these files in the two countries would go well." Saddam Hussein and Syria's late President Hafez al-Assad, leaders of rival wings of the Arab nationalist Baath party, severed ties when Syria sided with Shi'ite, non-Arab Iran during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. U.S. and Iraqi officials have long accused Damascus of doing too little to stem the flow of foreign Islamist fighters and weapons across its long, porous border. Syria says sealing the border is impossible and Iraq must do more to patrol its side. The U.S. military said on Monday (November 20) that between 70 and 100 foreign fighters were still crossing the border each month. After meeting officials, including Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has used harsh language about Syria's alleged role in the insurgency, Moualem pledged cooperation in tackling violence that has raised the spectre of civil war. But in Baghdad the violence continued as three mortar rounds smashed into a Baghdad neighbourhood on Tuesday, killing one civilian and wounding three others, police and witnesses said. The attack took place in the mainly Shi'ite neighbourhood of Amil district. "Suddenly I felt something behind my back and I fell to the ground and I saw smoke rising. I did not know where the mortar rounds landed. I do not know where they landed but we were showered with flying shrapnel," said Adnan, a bodybuilder whose leg was injured by the shrapnel. Nine people including one policeman were wounded in a separate bomb blast in central Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. They said that the bomb was left under a parked car in Tahariyat square in Baghdad's Kerrada district. A trail of blood could be seen at the scene of the blast. In a separate incident, a U.S. military armoured vehicle was set ablaze after coming under attack in a highway south of Baghdad. The attack took place in the southern Baghdad district of Dora. U.S. forces cordoned off the area, bringing traffic to a complete halt on the two-lane highway and television footage showed a military vehicle on fire and smoke billowing from it. The U.S. military could not be immediately reached for further details on the attack. Dora, is among the most violent areas in a violent city, with sectarian gangs extorting money and forcing people from homes in a form of ethnic cleansing. Mortar and rocket battles have erupted occasionally throughout Baghdad's religiously mixed patchwork of neighbourhoods. Sunni Muslim insurgents are battling Iraqi and U.S. forces, while bloodshed between majority Shi'ites and Saddam Hussein's once dominant minority Sunnis has killed thousands of Iraqis and raised fears Iraq is teetering on the edge of all-out civil war. The past week has seen sectarian tensions come to a head inside Iraq's national unity government, which has yet to make headway on key issues six months after taking office on May 20 on a pledge to reconcile communities and avert civil war.

ITN Source | November 21, 2006

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