Blinken makes unannounced Iraq visit as part of Syria diplomacy push

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Friday to meet Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for talks on the future of neighboring Syria.

Blinken is touring the region in the wake of the swift collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government in the face of an advance by Syrian opposition factions.

Assad's ouster took Washington by surprise and the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden is urging the victorious rebels, with whom it is scrambling to establish contacts, to create a government that eschews Islamist factions and is inclusive of Syria's minorities.

The State Department said Blinken in Baghdad "will underscore U.S. commitment to the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership and to Iraq's security, stability, and sovereignty."

"He will also discuss regional security opportunities and challenges, as well as enduring U.S. support for engagement with all communities in Syria to establish an inclusive transition," it said.

Blinken's visit was not announced until after he met Sudani on Friday.

A U.S. official told Reuters that Washington sees this moment as an opportunity to further push back Iran's influence in the region.

Iraq, which is led by a coalition of mostly Shi'ite political parties and armed groups close to Iran, is a major player in Tehran's so-called Axis of Resistance that includes Hamas in Gaza and Lebanese Hezbollah and has faced setbacks since Israel responded to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

Iraq opted not to allow Shi'ite militias to intervene in Syria as Sunni rebels advanced and ultimately seized Damascus last weekend, despite Baghdad's concerns that unrest could spill over.

Thousands of Sunni fighters crossed from Syria into Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion and fueled years of sectarian killing before returning in 2013 as Islamic State to conquer a third of the country.

Opposition factions in Syria led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have disavowed al Qaeda and Islamic State and say they have no ambitions in Iraq.

As the rebels in Syria advanced, Iraq had amassed on its border thousands of fighters from its conventional military as well as the Popular Mobilization Forces, a security agency containing many Iran-aligned armed groups that previously fought in Syria.



(Reporting by Simon Lewis; additional reporting by Timour Azhari in Damascus; Editing by Ros Russell)