Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

Donate

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2023 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Islamic Party Of Iraq Meets With Syrian

Juan Cole 11/08/2003

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email
0 Shares

Islamic Party of Iraq Meets with Syrian President

The Secretary General of the Sunni, Iraqi “Islamic Party,” Muhsin Abd al-Hamid, met yesterday with Bashar al-Asad, the president of Syria, in Damascus. Al-Asad’s office issued a communiqué afterwards affirming Syria’s empathy with the Iraqi people and its commitment to working for the continued unity of Iraq, both with regards to its public and its territory, in preparation for the return of complete sovereignty to it. A source in the Syrian government said that Abd al-Hamid and his delegation concurred with al-Asad’s sentiments.

The Islamic Party has a seat on the US-appointed Interim Governing Council, and this visit is part of IGC regional diplomacy. What is interesting is that al-Asad is an Alawi (a form of Syrian folk Shiism) and the Baath regime in Syria has been hard on Syrian Sunni fundamentalists, though things are not as dire as they used to be. Someone like Abd al-Hamid might well be in jail if he were a Syrian. So it is worth noting that Bashar was willing to meet with him, and that they found things to agree about.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter and have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.

Twitter

Follow Juan Cole @jricole or Informed Comment @infcomment on Twitter

Facebook



Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2023 All Rights Reserved

Posting....