Middle East Focus: Ahmadinejad in Syria: the Thorny Iraqi Issue………….

Arabia Deserta

Ahmadinejad in Syria: the Thorny Iraqi Issue………….

Will you wait for me? Will you darn my socks and wipe.......

“On his way to the U.N. General Assembly, Iran's president stopped in Syria Saturday for talks with an important ally in Tehran's confrontation with the West. The brief visit by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comes two days after President Bashar Assad met with the Obama administration's envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell, in Damascus to discuss starting separate Syria-Israel peace talks. The back-to-back trips underscored the battle for influence in Syria between the two rivals. The U.S., seeking to isolate Iran, has tried unsuccessfully to pry Damascus away from its alliance with Tehran…………..”

Iraq is a thorny issue in this enduring relationship that has withstood many temptations. Neither Saudi offers of billions of dollars, nor Western offers of the return of part of the Golan, nor the lifting of the cloud over the Hariri assassination have been able to shake it so far. They have not managed to seduce Syria, yet. Mitchell has not been able to do it, yet. Yet Iraq has tested this relationship and will continue to do so until a new government is formed (it will not be led by Allawi’s Neo-Ba’athist bloc). And afterwards.
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