By Assad Abboud
Agence France-Presse, 04 February 2007
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Relations between Baghdad and Damascus that were restored just three months ago are already under strain amid allegations Syria is sheltering Iraqi fugitives but being "hostile" to genuine refugees.
Amid a quickening bombing campaign against Baghdad commercial districts that on Saturday saw 130 people killed in the second deadliest attack since the 2003 invasion, Iraqi leaders are voicing growing frustration with what they see as Syria's failure to stem the flow of militants across the border.
Syria has imposed restrictions on Iraqi refugees, suspended flights by the national carrier Iraqi Airways and welcomed Sunni cleric Hareth al-Dari, who is wanted by authorities in Baghdad.
After Saturday's massive truck bomb in a Baghdad market, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh declared that half of the violence gripping the country was the work of outsiders infiltrating from Syria.
"I confirm that 50 percent of murders and bombings are by Arab extremists coming from Syria," Dabbagh said.
"They come from Syria, we have evidence to prove it. We have already proved it to our brothers in Syria.
"We want to tell all Arabs now that those who call themselves mujahedeen come from Syria, and murder our oppressed population."
Syria reacted angrily to Dabbagh's comments decribing them as "contrary to reality and aimed at harming relations between
Iraq and Syria that Damascus wants to strengthen and develop."
Syria recalled that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani made a six-day visit just last month, the first by an Iraqi head of state in three decades, during which a series of agreements were signed.
"The deals that were struck have laid the basis for the development of relations," an official source told AFP in Damascus. "The comments made by Ali al-Dabbagh are unjustifiable."
After a series of talks during the January visit, Talabani and his Syrian counterpart President Bashar al-Assad expressed a joint "readiness to work together and do everything possible to eradicate terrorism."
But Dabbagh charged Saturday that despite Syrian promises to the contrary, "terrorist groups in Iraq receive all kinds of aid from people set up in Syria."
US commanders have repeatedly accused Syria of turning a blind eye to insurgents smuggling men and materiel across the porous border.
But Damascus counters that it has stopped thousands of would-be fighters, and that attempts to discuss cooperation have been rebuffed by Washington.
The Iraqi government spokesman has also hit out at what he called Syria's "hostile" attitude to Iraqi refugees fleeing the sectarian bloodshed that killed tens of thousands of people last year.
"Syria imposed measures on residency which are very rare. By these measures they will put hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in a dire situation, this is not a friendly attitude, but a hostile attitude," Dabbagh said Friday.
Iraqis were previously granted renewable three-month residency permits but Syria now issues two-week permits that can be renewed just once, upon presentation of documents including a rental contract.
Otherwise, Iraqis must return home for a month before they can apply again.
More than two million Iraqis have sought refuge abroad from the sectarian violence, including at least 600,000 who fled to Syria, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Dabbagh said "Iraqi refugees were headed for disaster" in Syria and that recent decisions provoked "anger among Iraqis over the Syrian attitude."
He sharply criticised a meeting of Syria's ruling Baath party that he said "glorified the butcher of Iraqis,
Saddam Hussein," and slammed Damascus for "openly receiving figures with ties to terrorism."
Syria and Iraq, which was governed under Saddam by a rival branch of the Baath party, restored diplomatic relations on November 21, ending a 26-year rupture.
But on January 28, Syrian aviation authorities grounded all Iraqi Airways flights from Baghdad.
Syrian officials said they sought to ensure that Iraqi aircraft met all current international technical and safety standards.
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Citation: Assad Abboud. "Iraq-Syria relations strained anew," Agence France-Presse, 04 February 2007.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070204/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestsyria_070204145356
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