Syria and Iran willing to help US in Iraq
Syria and Iran are willing to help try to stabilise Iraq but they will want something in return and neither has a magic solution to the country’s bloodshed, Mideast officials and analysts said today after a US commission recommended such outreach.
The bipartisan Iraq Commission report warned that the situation in Iraq is “grave and deteriorating” and called for the administration to try to engage Syria and Iran as part of a diplomatic effort to bring stability.
Syria’s vice president today said that his country and its ally Iran are prepared to help.
“The two countries are Iraq’s neighbours, and without getting them involved it will not be easy to find a solution to the predicament in Iraq,” Farouq al-Sharaa told a political conference in Damascus.
“We are not so arrogant to say that Syria and Iran can solve Iraq’s problem. The entire international community may not be able to solve it,” he said.
“But let them (the Americans) be a little bit modest and accept whoever has the capability to help,” Sharaa said.
