Dawa And Iraqi Resistance Reject Syrian President Visiting Iraq In May

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani is trying to normalize relations with the new government in Syria but is facing pushback from pro-Iran groups.

 

PM Sudani held an unannounced meeting with the new Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara in Qatar in the middle of April. He was then invited to attend the Arab Summit in Baghdad in May. Many of Iraq’s ruling parties are worried about instability in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime. Sudani is trying to reach out to the new government in Damascus in hopes that they can work together to try to control any unforeseen events that might happen.

 

He is opposed by many of the pro-Iran parties. Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa party shared a petition in parliament to try to block Shara from going to the Arab Summit. An MP also called for legal action against President Shara for his work in Iraq with the insurgency. Qais Khazali of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq said it was too soon for Shara to visit Iraq while the spokesman for Kataib Hezbollah made similar comments.

 

This comes amongst reports in the Iraqi press that members of the ruling Coordination Framework want to intervene in Syria. Al Mada ran an article that said some parties were talking about overthrowing the new Syrian government. That also came as several new Resistance groups mentioned going to Syria to fight. That was followed by Bas News reporting that Hashd factions were working with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to form a military force made up of ex-Assad soldiers in Anbar province.

 

The Resistance spent over a decade fighting in Syria at the behest of Iran to support the Assad government. When he was deposed it sent a shock wave through the pro-Iran factions. It’s understandable then that Tehran’s allies are against the Shara government especially because he was sent to Syria to form Jabhat al-Nusra as a covert branch of the Islamic State before breaking with it.

 

Another issue is that Iraq is scheduled for parliamentary elections in November and opponents of PM Sudani are looking for his weaknesses to attack him before the vote. Maliki is his biggest rival. That’s why things like the petition and trying to bring charges against Shara are purely performative and will go nowhere. They are just aimed at the prime minister.

 

SOURCES

 

Bas News, “Iraqi Militias, IRGC Recruiting Ex-Syrian Officers for New Force: Report,” 3/27/25

 

Al Mada, “Fatherless Factions: Messages of a Possible Attack on Tehran After the Houthis,” 3/18/25

 

Mahmoud, Sinan, “Iraqi MP seeks legal action against Syrian President Al Shara,” The National, 4/21/25

- “Iraqi MPs try to block Syria’s Al Shara from Arab Summit in Baghdad,” The National, 4/20/25

Rudaw, “Iraqi Shiite politicians at odds over Sharaa’s visit to Baghdad,” 4/20/25