After the change in Syria’s political leadership, Damascus and Baghdad have kept diplomatic channels open between them, although the latter has not removed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa from its terrorism list.
Under Decision No. 62 of 2025, issued last October, Iraq’s Terrorism Financing Monitoring Committee amended the Syrian president’s name on its records, adopting his full legal name, Ahmad Hussein al-Sharaa, instead of Abu Mohammad al-Julani. The decision reaffirmed that his fixed and liquid assets had already been frozen under the Committee’s Decision No. 22 of 2019, after he was placed on the U.N. Security Council sanctions list related to ISIS and al-Qaeda.
“Keeping al-Sharaa’s name on Iraq’s terrorism carries a negative message and reflects the extent of Iranian influence within Iraqi institutions,” said Abbas Sharifa, a political analyst close to the Syrian administration, in remarks to Alhurra.
Sharifa noted that relations with the current Iraqi government, led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, have generally progressed in various fields. However, he said the main obstacle lies in Sudani’s limited control over many state institutions and over armed groups operating outside the authority of Iraq’s Ministry of Defense.
As December draws to a close, one full year has passed since the first official Iraqi delegation visited Damascus following the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, 2024.
Since then, the political equation between Damascus and Baghdad has shifted, ushering in a new phase marked by cautious rapprochement despite the reopening of diplomatic channels.
In recent months, relations between the two countries have been limited to meetings between senior officials, most notably a meeting between al-Sharaa and Sudani in Doha. However, most Iraqi delegations that visited Damascus after the political transition were security delegations led by Iraqi National Intelligence Service chief Hamid al-Shatri.
Ali al-Baydar, a political writer and analyst close to the Iraqi government, described Iraq-Syria relations as “thorny and complex,” pointing to a historical and political legacy spanning decades that has eroded trust between the two sides.
“There is unresolved security anxiety between the two countries, and the new political — and even social — landscape in Syria remains unstable, while there’s caution toward its new rulers. All of this has led to a reduced level of normalization and insufficient channels of communication between the two states,” al-Baydar told Alhurra.
Al-Baydar said the issue of al-Sharaa’s designation should be addressed diplomatically but added that “the Iraqi political landscape has too many ideologies and interests that it cannot have one single narrative or a unified course of action,” a fact that have produced varying approaches to relations with Syria.
Mustafa Sheikh Muslim, an adviser to the Autonomous Administration in northeast Syria, disagreed with al-Baydar regarding the implications of al-Sharaa’s continued designation.
Sheikh Muslim told Alhurra that keeping al-Sharaa on Iraq’s terrorism list does not constitute in itself an obstacle to establishing relations between the two countries but the fact that it carries political symbolism signaling a refusal to confer legitimacy on Syria’s ruling system.
Border control, counterterrorism, anti-smuggling efforts, the fight against ISIS and the al-Hol camp top the list of shared priorities between Iraq and Syria. During meetings between Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, both sides stressed the need to form joint committees to combat terrorism.
Sheikh Muslim said the exchange of security delegations reflects a pragmatic response to issues that cannot be held hostage to political moods, noting that “security issues have always transcended borders and ideological differences. Therefore, the exchange of security delegations does not necessarily indicate political congruence.”
Unresolved Shared Files
Current cooperation between the two countries revolves primarily around security, particularly border control. However, this cooperation remains limited and has not risen to the level of forming a unified front or strategic alliance to confront ISIS and smuggling operations.
Iraq has taken measures to curb smuggling, including increasing security deployments along the shared border and constructing a concrete wall equipped with modern surveillance technologies along its length to prevent smuggling and terrorist infiltration.
“Remnants of the Assad regime in Iraq are among the foremost unresolved issues between the two sides, followed by the fight against ISIS and other security files — especially al-Hol camp and ISIS detainees in Syria, whom Iraq is expected to take back — in addition to border control,” Sharifa said.
He added that there are also protocol disputes between the two countries regarding political recognition of the Syrian state and the exchange of ambassadors, accusing Iraq of procrastination on this issue.
However, Iraqi analyst Ali al-Baydar said the issue of Syrian figures present in Iraq or wanted by Syria’s new government has not been raised in Damascus to warrant discussion in Baghdad.
“There are minor observations. The new Syrian regime does not seek revenge and wishes to avoid further escalation in crises. It works quietly. Iraq also has not released publicly any records. perhaps the numbers are small and do not harm the nature of relations between the two countries,” he said.
Rafed al-Atwani, a researcher specializing in Iraqi political affairs, said the two sides have not formed any committees to examine the issue of former Assad-era figures who fled to Iraq and later left the country.
“Former Syrian regime elements are no longer present in Iraq. Those currently in Iraq are ordinary Syrian civilians. It is possible that senior regime figures were deported or smuggled out of Iraq to another country. I believe this file was managed by non-Iraqi actors,” said al-Atwani, who is close to the Shiite National Movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr, speaking to Alhurra.
The Iranian Factor
For more than 13 years of Syria’s civil war, Iran-aligned Iraqi militias played a prominent role, fighting alongside Lebanon’s Hezbollah against Syrian opposition factions and groups, until Assad fled Syria on Dec. 8, 2024, and those militias withdrew back into Iraq.
According to political analysts and observers of Iraqi and Syrian affairs who spoke to Alhurra, these militias — along with Iraqi political forces aligned with the Coordination Framework — continue to oppose rapprochement with Damascus or the strengthening of relations between the Iraqi government and Syria’s new political system, in response to Iran’s loss of one of its most significant regional strongholds following Assad’s fall.
Al-Atwani said positions among Iraq’s Shiite political forces toward Syria’s new political system vary, ranging from media escalation to deep apprehension. “Some want to overthrow it by all means, either because it holds a particular ideology or because they lost Syria as a political arena aligned with their affiliation,” he said.
Despite the dissatisfaction with Damascus and the limited media escalation among Iraqi factions toward Syria’s new government, al-Atwani said those factions are ultimately seeking to de-escalate with international actors.
“There is a state of anticipation, and the Iraqi government is trying to shield Iraq from strikes, whether American or Israeli. Therefore, I do not believe there will be a confrontation between the factions and the Syrian side. The latter also does not want to provoke neighboring or international actors; it is focused domestic housekeeping and addressing its challenges,” he added.
In recent months, there has been significant rapprochement between the United States and Syria. U.S. President Donald Trump has met al-Sharaa twice, Washington has lifted sanctions on Syria — including repealing the Caesar Act — and in November the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution drafted by the United States removing al-Sharaa’s name from sanctions related to ISIS and al-Qaeda.
In previous remarks to Alhurra, Iraqi Prime Minister’s adviser for foreign relations Farhad Alaaldin said in May that growing Syrian-U.S. rapprochement could positively affect Iraq politically and security-wise and create a favorable environment for economic cooperation in energy, trade and reconstruction.
Sheikh Muslim also addressed Iran’s influence on Syria-Iraq relations, saying: “Tehran has lost many cards in a short period of time. Therefore, it will not relinquish its influence in Iraq, as it is the closest neighbor to Iran’s strategic depth and its gateway to the outside world. From this perspective of subjection to Iran, Syrian Iraqi relations can be understood; a fact that explains the delay in building strong relations between the two sides.”
