International
Maliki makes his first official visit to Syria

Damascus, Aug. 21 (AP): Iraq's Prime Minister made his first official visit to Syria today to discuss security and border issues, especially the flow of deadly weapons and fighters into Iraq and the flood of Iraqi refugees the other way into Syria.

If the border is made safe, Baghdad pledged to reopen a crude oil pipeline that passes through Syria, officials said at the start of the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's three-day sojourn to the neighbouring country.

The United States and Iraq have repeatedly accused Syria of failing to reign in the flow of militants, foreign fighters and arms across the porous boundary into Iraq.

But Syria denies the allegations that it is fuelling the anti-American insurgency in Iraq, saying it is impossible to control the long desert border.

Damascus said earlier this month it had taken measures on its eastern border to increase security including stationing fixed check points and border patrols. Syrian officials said they also tightened measures on the crossing of people who are under the age of 30 and arrested a large number of infiltrators.

"This visit is to implement the government's policy that depends on the basis of security, economic and political relations with the neighbouring countries and ways to enhance these relations," said al-Maliki, who lived in Syria in the 1990s as a refugee from Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq.

"We will discuss the serious security file and its challenges, which concern not only Iraq but the whole region," he told reporters. "We will discuss the Iraqi community and immigrants in Syria and the ways to provide them with services."

International

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