Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s visit to Syria had delivered “important gains” for Iraq, particularly on security, a political source told Shafaq News on Wednesday.

The visit had produced understandings aimed at strengthening security and stability along the Iraqi-Syrian border and keeping away anything that could pose a threat to Iraq. The Iraqi army would secure and monitor the unfinished section of the border security barrier built by Iraq to protect the country, alongside other important security understandings, according to the source.

Meanwhile, Firas al-Mislmawi, spokesman for the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, led by Former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, told Shafaq News that the visit’s outcomes built on efforts initiated by al-Sudani, particularly on security, “which had helped reduce threats along the Iraqi-Syrian border.”

Al-Mislmawi added that the understandings also covered protecting Syria’s Shiite minority and ensuring its participation in governance, as well as safeguarding Shiite religious shrines in the country.

Earlier in the day, Al-Zaidi and Syrian transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa co-chaired expanded talks in Damascus, discussing plans to export Iraqi oil through the Baniyas pipeline, which has a stated capacity of up to 2 million barrels per day, and efforts to expand bilateral trade, according to a statement from al-Zaidi’s office.