Iraq’s Prime Minister Haidar Abadi appears to be following
the same policy towards Syria as his predecessor Nouri al-Maliki, but with much
less fanfare. Both allowed Iraqi men to travel to fight in Syria. Maliki let
Iran fly arms and military equipment over Iraq to Syria. Now Abadi said that
Russia could use Iraqi air space to hit targets in Syria. The difference
between the two premiers is that Maliki was open about his support for the Assad
government, while Abadi has taken a more low key approach.
Under Abadi Iraqis have continued to flow into Syria and the
door has been opened to Russian over flights over Iraq. In March
2016 for example, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard called on Iraqi Hashd groups
to send fighters to Syria to make up for the withdrawal of Russian forces. In August,
Harakat al-Nujaba announced that it was sending around 2,000 men to southern
Aleppo to assist in a Syrian government offensive there. Finally, after Russian
bombers were deployed to Iran, Abadi said
that they could use Iraqi airspace to carry out operations in Syria. Besides
the comments about Russia however, Abadi has said relatively little about Syria
or the thousands of Iraqis who have joined the war there. He has not even
commented when these foreign deployments have hurt Iraq. For example, after
Baiji was freed in October 2015 the Hashd said that they would take Shirqat
next in northern Salahaddin. That never happened as many of the fighters were
called up by Iran to support the Russian intervention in Syria.
Maliki was the one that changed Iraq’s stance towards Syria
and came out in support of the Assad government. Before the Syrian civil war,
Maliki had condemned Syria’s support for terrorists in Iraq and giving
sanctuary to the two main factions of the Baath Party. In 2011
however, Maliki changed his tune saying that he stood with President Assad
warning that his overthrow would open the door to jihadists taking power. The
next year Iraqi parties and militias began mobilizing fighters to fight for
Damascus. In January 2012 for instance, the Badr Organization called for an
army of Iraqis to counter Sunni militants in Syria. (1) Maliki also allowed
Iran to fly military equipment across Iraq to the Syrian regime. His stance was
driven not only by his fears of what might come from the Syrian civil war, but
also because he had tilted towards Iran after the U.S. military withdrawal. Tehran
and Damascus had an alliance dating back years, and was able to draw Iraq into
it.
Maliki is one of Abadi’s main opponents, but the two leaders
have maintained the same path when it comes to Syria. While Maliki was inspired
by Iran and the growing jihadist presence in Syria, Abadi has another set of
issues driving his stance towards Assad. Abadi came into office in a very weak
position. For one he lacked a base and didn’t even control his own Dawa Party.
He has also had a difficult relationship with the pro-Iranian Hashd factions
that have often criticized his policies. With those and other problems putting
pressure on him the prime minister chose to pick his battles and decided to
leave Syrian policy as is.
FOOTNOTES
1. Al-Mada, “Official in Basra calling for the formation of
an army of two million to support Assad,” 1/7/12
SOURCES
Blomfield, Adrian, “Syria: fall of Bashar al-Assad will
bring war to Middle East, warns Iraq,” Telegraph, 12/4/11
Fadel, Leith, “Iraqi fighters pour into southern Aleppo,” Al
Masdar News, 8/8/16
Iraqi News, “Iraqi airspace opened for Russia, confirms
Abadi,” 8/16/16
Al-Mada, “Official in Basra calling for the formation of an
army of two million to support Assad,” 1/7/12
McDowall, Angus and Rasheed, Ahmed, “Iraq militia fighters
join battle for Syria’s Aleppo,” Reuters, 9/7/16
Morris, Loveday and Salim,
Mustafa, “Iran backs battle for Syria’s Aleppo with proxies, ground troops,”
Washington Post, 10/19/15
Murphy, Dan, “Deadly Iraq bombings and a reawakening
insurgency,” Christian Science Monitor, 7/24/12
The Real BTL, “Iran Mobilizing Iraq Militias To Enter Syria
After Russian Withdrawal,” 3/21/16
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