December 10, 2009 (Financial Times) - Sitting comfortably in a flat in Damascus, Abdul Nasser al-Jenabi is in defiant mood. Dressed in a flowing robe and white headscarf tied similarly to that of a cleric, he
pledges that the Iraqi “resistance” will continue until the last U.S. soldier has left his homeland.
“We do not want to be under slavery,” he says. “Iraq has been invaded 27 times in history – this is the 28th time – and it has freed itself with guns.”
He is one of at least 1m Iraqis who have taken refuge in Syria since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Many are ordinary refugees, families who fled for their lives as violence engulfed their nation.
But others are former Baathists who served under Saddam Hussein, and some, like Mr Jenabi, a 46-year-old former Islamic law teacher, have ties to the Sunni insurgency.
This is an issue that has tarnished relations between Damascus and Baghdad, with Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, demanding the deportation of dozens of Iraqi Baathists back to their home country.
Damascus, however, insists the Baathists are political refugees who are causing no harm. A Syrian official also points out that when Mr Maliki was enjoying Syrian hospitality during his own time in exile, he was not handed over to Saddam.
But the dispute rose several notches in August after two truck bombs rocked Baghdad and killed nearly 100 people. Mr Maliki lashed out at Damascus, claiming that Syria was hosting Iraqi insurgents responsible for the blasts.
After a series of bombs killed more than 110 people this week, Mr Maliki again pointed an accusatory finger beyond Iraq’s borders, blaming “Baathists and al-Qaeda”, whom he alleged had received help from a neighbouring country. He named Syria and Saudi Arabia.
An al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility on Thursday for the blasts.
Syria has rejected all those claims. Mr Jenabi, who represents a Sunni insurgent group aligned with Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a Baathist who served as deputy head of Saddam Hussein’s Revolutionary Command Council, said his group did not target Iraqis and had no role in the bombings. He said that he and others like him in Syria were involved in media relations and political issues.
Some observers also say Mr Maliki may have decided to point the finger of blame because of the damage the attacks have caused to his own credibility. With elections set for next March, the Shia prime minister has been championing himself as the Iraqi leader who improved security. Whatever the case, Mr Maliki’s accusations against Syria have echoed far and wide.
Syria, an ally of Iran and supporter of Hizbollah, the Lebanese militant group, and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement, is a test case for President Barack Obama’s policy of diplomacy through dialogue.
The US would like Damascus to curtail its support for what it deems terrorist groups, dilute its alliance with Iran and pursue peace with Israel.
The one area, however, where there seemed to be common ground was in relation to Iraq, where the US wants Syria to help secure the border with its neighbour and prevent the flow of foreign fighters to aid the Sunni insurgency.
A significant agreement came close to being achieved in the summer. Two meetings between US and Syrian military officials produced an agreement to form a border assessment team that would have had US participation up to the rank of colonel. If the deal had gone ahead, US forces would have held a joint exercise with Syrian officers to identify strengths and weaknesses along the border.