Iraq–Syria relations
Iraq–Syria relations are the diplomatic relations between the sovereign states of the Republic of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic. Both countries are neighbours and they share the Iraq–Syria border. Bilateral relations are marked by long-shared cultural and political links, as well as former regional rivalry. The two countries took their present form after the Sykes–Picot Agreement to dismember the Ottoman Empire into British and French spheres of influence after World War I. The two countries have been marred by traditional rivalry for pre-eminence in Arab affairs, allegations of involvement in each other's internal politics, and disputes over the waters of Euphrates River, oil transit fees, and stances toward Israel. Ba'athist Syria also joined the coalition that liberated Kuwait from Ba'athist Iraqi occupation in the 1991 Gulf War. Following a series of allegations that Syria was supporting terrorism in Iraq during the 2003–2011 Iraq War, both countries eventually normalized relations in 2006. Although Iraq, along with associated Shia militias, once provided support to the Assad regime during the Syrian civil war, the official Iraqi rhetoric towards the new administration changed after Syrian rebels successfully overthrew the Assad regime in 2024. In subsequent official Iraqi statements, the Iraqi government stressed respect for the free will of all Syrians while emphasizing the importance of Syria's security, territorial integrity and independence. However, relations remain tense due to the opposition of elites in the Iraqi government towards normalization with the new Syrian government, on grounds that it’s associated with Islamist extremist groups.
Background
Iraq and Syria are united by historical, social, political, cultural and economic relations. The land known as Mesopotamia is Iraq and eastern Syria and is called such by its inhabitants. Ever since Faisal I took the Iraqi throne in the early 1920s, Iraqi leaders have dreamed of unifying the two countries. The modern history of Iraq and Syria is deeply intertwined and has many troubled junctures. The Ba'ath Party started in Syria, from which the Iraqi version emerged, and both produced diverging but nonetheless disastrous authoritarian regimes and dictatorships. Relations were mostly poor during the Ba'athist regimes of Hafez al-Assad and Saddam Hussein, though Hafez's son Bashar al-Assad significantly improved relations. New diplomatic relations established in November 2006, were heralded as the beginning of an era of close cooperation between Iraq and Syria.Both countries fought against the Islamic State. In the Syrian Civil War, Iraqi volunteers have been fighting in Syria alongside the Syrian Arab Army. The two countries were part of the Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq coalition which was formed as a consequence of an agreement reached at the end of September 2015 between Russia, Iran, Iraq and the Syrian government to "help and cooperate in collecting information about the Islamic State to combat the advances of the group, according to the statement issued by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command. From 2017 to 2019, private militias in Iraq joined the Syrian Civil War on behalf of the Assad regime and helped eliminate the Islamic State within the country. After the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024, various ethnic groups, religious minorities and civil society organizations in Iraq are paying close attention to the developments and hope that the international community will proactively help Syria achieve inclusive governance, thereby avoiding endangering the stability of Iraq.
History
Medieval period
In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Hamdanid emirate of Syria and Jazira broke off with the Abbasid Caliphate based in Iraq. The Hamdanids occupied parts of Abbasid Iraq in 942, before being expelled by the Buyids of Iran.The Seljuks moved into Iraq and Syria during the eleventh century. Abbasid Iraq regained independence and the caliph was recognized as the spiritual leader of Sunni Islam by the Seljuks, including the Seljuks of Syria. In the 12th century, the Zengids took power in Syria and intervened in the war between Abbasid Iraq and the Seljuks. Saladin of the Ayyubid dynasty was later declared the Sultan of Egypt and Sultan of Syria; he aligned Syria to the Abbasids in Iraq.
Mandatory Iraq and Syria
In April 1920, the Allied San Remo Conference was held in Italy, which announced imposition of the British mandate over Iraq and the French over Syria. In June 1920, the Great Iraqi Revolution, known as the Twentieth Revolution, broke out in an attempt to liberate Iraq from the British occupation, and in July 1920 the famous Battle of Maysalun took place, which ended with the French occupation of Damascus and the overthrow of King Faisal's Arab Kingdom of Syria.The borders between the two countries were not defined in this early period in the history of the two countries, but the Ottoman border line between the Iraqi and Syrian states was the Khabur River, and therefore the cities of Al-Bukamal and Al-Mayadeen and Deir ez-Zor were Iraqi cities.
According to these borders, Britain, which was exercising legal sovereignty over Iraq at that period, sent political officers to rule these cities, but in late 1919 Syrian forces and clans launched an attack on these towns and captured British officers. As a result of this work, Britain recognized the fait accompli and the borders were amended to their current status.
From then until the end of World War II, the relations between the two countries did not witness any significant developments. Both countries were subject to the mandate regime, which prevents states from establishing political or diplomatic relations without the permission of the mandatory state. Therefore, relations between Iraq and Syria were limited to business relations.
The independence of Syria and Lebanon was declared in 1943 and 1946 respectively. Syria and Iraq established diplomatic relations on 8 November 1945 when has been accredited Charge d'Affaires of Iraq to Syria Ibrahim Fadli.
Iraq as a founding state in the United Nations made tremendous efforts for international recognition of Syria and Lebanon and their inclusion in the membership of the United Nations, which necessitated the fulfillment of the thanks of the Syrian and Lebanese governments to the Iraqi government.
In the late forties, a series of military coups took place in Syria, some of which were calling for the annexation of Syria to Iraq as a solution to the crisis of political instability.
In 1958, unity was established between Egypt led by Gamal Abdel Nasser and Syria and the monarchy in Iraq rejected this unity, which caused a rupture between the two countries and a state of tension and conspiracies. It continued until the fall of the Kingdom of Iraq after the 14 July Revolution.
Although establishing unity between Iraq and the United Arab Republic was one of the goals of the Iraqi revolution, this did not happen, but the countries entered into a state of hostility and media attacks continued even after the separation of Syria from Egypt in 1961.
Ba'athist Iraq and Ba'athist Syria
Efforts by Syrians and Iraqis to unite Iraq and Syria into one country have existed since the creation of the modern states. Such unification efforts were to continue under the Ba'ath Party. Hostility between Syria and Iraq started in the 1966 when both were under Ba'athist rule. Relations improved in the early 1970s during the Yom Kippur War, but deteroriated again following Syria's acceptance of the UN-sponsored ceasefire.After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad made several attempts in 1974 and 1975 to settle his differences with Iraq and establish a union between the two countries. They have also added a wall between the borders of Syria and Iran. Iraq however rejected Assad's offers and denounced him for his "readiness to make peace" with Israel. Strained relations between Iraq and Syria would continue up until 1978.
File:Hussein Assad Bouteflika Khaddam.jpg|thumb|250px|Syrian President Hafez al-Assad with Iraqi Vice President Saddam Hussein, Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and Syrian Vice-President Abdul Halim Khaddam at 1978 Arab League Summit in Baghdad.
By October 1978, Iraq President, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr began working closely with Assad to foil the Camp David Accords; signing in Baghdad a charter for Joint National Action which provided for the "closest form of unity ties" including "complete military unity" as well as "economic, political and cultural unification".
In 1978 Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Hafez al-Assad, had agreed to a plan and started to make treaties that would lead to the unification of Iraq and Syria. This plan was to come into effect in July 1979. However, Saddam Hussein, the Deputy Secretary of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, fearful of losing his power to Assad, forced al-Bakr into retirement under threat of violence.
Unity talks did continue between Assad and Saddam after July 1979, but Assad rejected Iraqi demands for a full merger between the two states and for the immediate deployment of Iraq troops into Syria. Instead Assad, perhaps fearful of Iraqi domination and a new war with Israel, advocated a step-by-step approach. The unity talks were eventually suspended indefinitely after an alleged discovery of a Syrian plot to overthrow Saddam Hussein in November 1979.
Shortly after coming to power Saddam claimed to have been informed of a plot against him, supported by the Syrians, and suspended, then later abandoned the plan for unification. In November 1979 both countries officially suspended relations with one another and withdrew their diplomatic missions. Prior to his forced retirement Bakr had expressed to Assad a desire to speed up the process of union, as he feared elements within the Iraqi Ba'ath Party were trying to kill the union plan. However the Iran–Iraq War and Assad's growing closeness with Iran effectively ended any hopes of rapprochement, and in January 1982 the borders between the two countries were closed and sealed and all trade and movement of citizens was stopped.
Later, Syria broke relations after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 and joined other Arab states in sending military forces to the coalition that forced Iraq out of Kuwait. However by 1997, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad began reestablishing relations with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The ascendance of Bashar in 2000 boosted this process. Under Bashar, Syria ignored the sanctions against Iraq and helped Iraq to illegally import oil. Up until the renewal of diplomatic ties in 2006, Iraq's new leaders frequently accused Ba'athist Syria of trying to destabilize their country by allowing Sunni Arab foreign fighters to cross back and forth over the border between the two countries.