Baghdad
CNN
—
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq Friday to meet with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as the international community grapples with the implications of the Syrian government’s collapse.
Blinken met with Sudani for more than an hour in Baghdad — the latest in a string of meetings in Turkey and Jordan amid an urgent effort to coordinate an approach to Syria following the sudden fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime to rebel forces last weekend.
As the US works with its key regional partners like Iraq, there is particular focus on ensuring that “any interim government also makes sure that Syria is not used as a base for terrorism, extremism and pose a threat to its neighbors or ally with groups like ISIS,” Blinken said Thursday. He noted that the infamous terrorist group “no doubt will seek to regroup.”
Blinken’s meeting with the Iraqi prime minister comes days after the top US military commander for the Middle East visited “for an assessment of the D-ISIS mission inside Iraq and Syria.” Two top State Department officials were also in Baghdad ahead of Blinken’s visit.
The US is also closely watching the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, who have targeted US personnel and interests in the past. National security adviser Jake Sullivan noted Saturday that they “could try to take advantage of” the instability in Syria. Blinken, during a visit last November in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack, had urged the Iraqi government to work to stem those attacks.
In Baghdad, Blinken intended to “underscore U.S. commitment to the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership and to Iraq’s security, stability, and sovereignty,” according to an updated State Department statement about his trip. “He will also discuss regional security opportunities and challenges, as well as enduring U.S. support for engagement with all communities in Syria to establish an inclusive transition.”
After his stop in Iraq, Blinken is expected to return to Aqaba, Jordan, for a ministerial on Saturday focused on efforts to reconstruct Syrian state institutions in a way that “preserves Syria’s unity, territorial integrity, sovereignty, security, stability, and the rights of all its citizens,” according to a Jordanian foreign ministry statement.
“We’re back in the region at a time of both real promise but also peril for Syria and for its neighbors. And the focus of our work here is to coordinate efforts across the region to support the Syrian people as they transition away from Assad’s brutal dictatorship,” Blinken told the press in Aqaba on Thursday.
Regional leaders have agreed on the importance on a “unified approach” to the situation, Blinken said, noting that “we’re having now detailed conversations about what it exactly look like, and I would anticipate that you’ll see countries coming together in support of a just basic approach.”
