{"id":353464,"date":"2026-09-22T12:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T12:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/353464\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T12:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T12:30:15","slug":"syria-iraq-seek-inroads-at-new-york-meeting-amid-un-general-assembly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/353464\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria, Iraq seek inroads at New York meeting amid UN General Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa arrived in New York on Monday ahead of the United Nations General Assembly<\/a>. This is an important trip for the Syrian leader, during which he will meet with the leaders of other countries and will also seek to increase investment in Syria.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the prime minister of Iraq, Ali al-Zaidi<\/a>, also traveled to New York, hoping to push a message about how Iraq will rein in Iranian-backed militias.<\/p>\n

Taken together, Iraq and Syria<\/a> form a key bloc in the Middle East. Both are large and populous countries. Both countries were also divided by conflict up until recently. For instance, ISIS once controlled a swath of both Iraq and Syria. These countries are the heartland of the historic Levant.<\/p>\n

Iraq is the land of the two rivers, which played a role in the birth of civilization in the region. Syria is also an ancient land, with ruins from the Roman and Crusader eras. Both Baghdad<\/a> and Damascus played key roles in Islamic history.<\/p>\n

Today, Iraq and Syria are quite different. Iraq suffers from Iranian influence and Iranian-backed militias. It is suffering economically because it can\u2019t export as much oil due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Syria, by contrast, is trying to get back on its feet after many years of civil war. Syria is closer in ties to Saudi Arabia and Turkey.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn explosion takes place in an area controlled by Israel in southern Lebanon, as seen from the edge of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, Lebanon, July 23, 2026. (credit: Mahmoud Hasano\/Reuters)Syria recently embraced by US as Israel opposes new government, Turkish influence<\/p>\n

It has also been embraced by the US over the last year. Israel, in contrast to the US and other countries that embraced the new Syria, has tended to oppose the new Syrian government and threaten Turkey\u2019s role in Syria. Aware of Israel\u2019s military strength and clout in the US, Syria is being careful not to create more tensions with Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Syria\u2019s delegation to the UN confab includes \u201cminister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, Emergency and Disaster Management Minister Raed al-Saleh, and a number of other officials.\u201d Syrian state SANA media says that \u201cduring his visit, President al-Sharaa is scheduled to deliver the Syrian Arab Republic\u2019s address before the General Assembly, hold talks with a number of world leaders and senior officials, and meet members of the Syrian community in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Syrian state media also noted that. \u201cPresident Ahmad al-Sharaa met with members of the U.S. Congress in New York on Tuesday for talks on bilateral relations, developments in Syria and regional and international issues.\u201d It added that \u201cForeign and Expatriates Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani and other officials attended the meeting. The talks addressed relations between Syria and the United States and the situation in Syria, as well as the latest regional and international developments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, The National in the UAE noted that \u201cUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi discussed the importance of disarming militia groups in Iraq, as the deadline to bring arms under state control was pushed from the end of this month to June next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is an important meeting. Rubio and the Iraqi prime minister \u201cagreed on the importance of Iraq dismantling terrorist militias, preventing attacks from Iraqi territory, and fully exercising its sovereignty\u201d, a statement from the US State Department said.<\/p>\n

The goal is to get Iraq to rein in the Iranian-backed militias, many of which are designated terrorist groups by the US. Zaidi has now said that he wants to see the arms under state control by June 2027, according to an interview with The New York Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cMilitia groups have largely pushed back against the deadline to disarm. Two prominent pro-Tehran armed groups, Asaib Ahl Al Haq and Kataib Imam Ali, alongside cleric Moqtada Al Sadr\u2019s Saraya Al Salam faction, claim they have placed their weapons under state authority. But hardline factions \u2013 mainly Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba \u2013 have said they will not disarm until foreign troops leave,\u201d The National added.<\/p>\n

Zaidi\u2019s US meetings aimed at getting support for Iraq<\/p>\n

Zaidi\u2019s meetings in the US, with Rubio and others, are aimed at getting support for Iraq. He wants more investment and hopes for a new partnership with the US after US forces leave.<\/p>\n

Both Iraq and Syria are at a crossroads. The meetings at the UN suggest they are seeking a new future for the region. If they succeed, then that will stabilize a large swath of the Middle East between Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. If they can’t bring home the investment they need, difficult times lie ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa arrived in New York on Monday ahead of the United Nations General Assembly. This…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67339,164,9,11,10,49,51,50,4661,3424],"class_list":["post-353464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-iraq","tag-middle-east","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-syria","tag-united-nations-general-assembly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}