Allawi, Sadr in Damascus Talks on Forming Iraqi Government

Al-manar

19/07/2010 Iraqi Former Premier Iyad Allawi and the Head of Mehdi Army Sayyed Moqtada Sadr met in Srya's capital in a bid to form a government.

President Bashar al-Assad too held talks with Allawi, who has been embroiled in months of haggling over the formation of a new Iraqi government, two days after the Syrian leader met separately with Sadr.

Assad reiterated "Syria's support for any inter-Iraqi accord (on a government) which conserves the unity of Iraq, its Arab identity and its sovereignty," Syria's official news agency SANA reported.

Allawi, who is vying for the post of prime minister with the incumbent, Nuri al-Maliki, in turn thanked Syria for playing host to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees and its support for efforts to restore stability in Iraq.

Efforts to form a new government, more than four months after a March 7 election in Iraq, also figured in the talks in Damascus last Saturday between Assad and Sadr.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was also headed for Damascus to meet Assad for talks covering Iraq, their common neighbor.

(AFP)

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian