Syria leader to miss Arab summit in Iraq: diplomatic source

BAGHDAD (AFP) : Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, will not attend an upcoming Arab League summit in Baghdad, an Arab diplomatic source said Monday, as powerful Iraqi politicians have rejected hosting a former jihadist leader.

Sharaa, whose Islamist group spearheaded the offensive that toppled Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December, was imprisoned for years in Iraq on charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda following the 2003 US-led invasion.

The Iraqi government has invited Sharaa for the meeting planned for Saturday, but he “will not attend the Arab Summit,” the diplomatic source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Instead, Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani will lead the Syrian delegation.

Several powerful Iraqi politicians have voiced opposition to Sharaa’s planned visit to Iraq.

They include former prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki, a leading member of Iraq’s main pro-Iran coalition that holds a parliamentary majority.

Armed groups aligned with Tehran have also joined the call against Sharaa, including the powerful faction Kataeb Hezbollah which has previously fought in Syria alongside Assad’s forces.

Several Iraqi security sources told AFP that an old arrest warrant for Sharaa from his time as a member of Al-Qaeda remains in place.

However, authorities seek good relations with Syria’s new leadership to help maintain regional stability, the sources said.

The fall of Assad, who was a close ally of the government in Baghdad, has complicated relations between the neighboring countries.

Iraq, where the majority are Shiite Muslims, remains deeply scarred by decades of conflict following the US-led invasion, which triggered sectarian violence and the rise of Sunni jihadist groups including Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.