Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi arrived in Damascus on Wednesday to meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, on the first visit by an Iraqi prime minister to Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Al Jazeera reported. It is also al-Zaidi's first official visit to Syria since he took office in May.

Source: Al Jazeera

According to the official Iraqi News Agency (INA), the two leaders discussed the export of Iraqi oil through the Baniyas line, increasing the volume of trade between the two countries, and joint work to develop the agricultural sector to achieve food and economic integration.

A statement from al-Zaidi's office, reported by Anadolu, said the expanded talks in Damascus addressed exporting Iraqi oil through the Baniyas pipeline with an export capacity of up to 2 million barrels per day, as well as increasing trade. The statement gave no details on the project's technical requirements, financing or implementation timeline.

Source: Anadolu, via Hatha Alyoum

2 million barrels a dayStated export capacity of the Baniyas pipeline discussed in Damascus — yaani 20 lakh barrels every day
December 2024When Bashar al-Assad fell — no Iraqi prime minister had visited Syria since then, until this trip
MayWhen al-Zaidi took office in Iraq, according to reports of the visit

"The Iraqi and Syrian people are one people in two countries," al-Zaidi said, according to INA, calling for work to develop partnership and joint cooperation in various fields, especially economic and social affairs, enhance security cooperation, unify positions on regional and international issues, and work to achieve peace and stability in the region.

For his part, al-Sharaa expressed his "great appreciation for the visit of al-Zaidi and his accompanying delegation," stressing "the depth of bilateral relations and Syria's keenness to achieve the highest levels of cooperation between the two countries," Al Jazeera reported.

Iraq has recently begun exporting limited quantities of oil through Syria following the outbreak of the US-led war on Iran, Al Jazeera noted — a shift that has made an alternative route to the Mediterranean, away from the Strait of Hormuz, strategically important for Baghdad.

Last July, the two countries signed agreements to revive the Haditha-Baniyas pipeline to transport Iraqi oil, in addition to signing a memorandum of understanding with a consortium of three companies, most notably the American oil major Chevron, to implement the project.

Shafaq News reported that the two leaders co-chaired expanded talks between the two countries' delegations in Damascus on Wednesday, and that al-Sharaa had said on Tuesday that the border with Iraq was fully secure, citing close coordination between the two countries.

Source: Shafaq News

The Damascus stop follows visits to Saudi Arabia and to Jordan on October 26 as part of al-Zaidi's regional tour, Shafaq News reported. Al-Sharaa and al-Zaidi had previously met last September in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

For Punjabi and Indian workers across the Gulf and for readers who follow oil prices, the talks matter beyond diplomacy: a working Iraq-to-Mediterranean oil route through Syria would give Baghdad an export path that does not depend on Gulf shipping lanes, at a time when the war around Iran has repeatedly disrupted those lanes.