Hussein said the discussion will focus on the situation in Syria with the aim of finding a reasonable solution.
“A quick solution is reviewed by everyone differently, and that is why this meeting is important, because Turkey, Russia, Iran, Iraq and the neighboring countries to Syria will all take part. Saudi Arabia and Qatar will attend as well,” he said.
Hussein presented two possible outcomes for Syria’s conflict. He said it could be resolved militarily, but added that there is an “armed mess in Syria,” or there could be a political solution, which he said may not solve the problems but could at least bring the situation under control.
The instability in Syria has implications for the whole region.
For Iraq, the worry is that Syria poses a direct threat. It is especially concerned about possible terrorist activities on their shared 600-kilometer long border.
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that is leading the rebel offensive in Syria, responded to Iraq’s worries. “There are a lot of fears and concerns across Iraq that what is unfolding in Syria will reach Iraq, and I decisively say that such an idea is 100 percent false,” he said.
HTS was once a Syrian branch of al-Qaeda and is the prominent force among dozens of rebel factions in the northwest. The group has long controlled a rebel enclave in the northwestern province of Idlib and has been internationally recognized as a terrorist organization.
Iraq has strengthened its border and made it clear that they will not intervene in the war in Syria.
“We will not make a military intervention in Syria,” government spokesman Basim al-Awadi told Rudaw on Friday.
“So far, the Syrian government has not requested military support from us, but they informed us that their country is in a bad situation and warned about the challenges ahead,” he added.
On Monday, the head of Iraq’s pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Falih al-Fayyadh, said that Syria’s conflict threatens Iraq’s national security and denied reports of their fighters being sent to aid Assad’s regime.
Syrians rose up against the Assad regime in 2011, leading to a civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, left millions more in dire need of humanitarian assistance, and much of the country’s infrastructure in ruins.
Sangar Abdulrahman contributed to this article.
