Baghdad, Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Iraq’s Ambassador to Cairo Qais AL Azzawi stressed that he did not think that his country could recall its ambassador to Syria, while Saad al-Matlabi, leading member of Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, considered Iraq’s abstention from voting on the resolution adopted by the Arab League on Syria as “the compromise solution required for such issues.”
In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat Al-Matlabi has said: “Through this decision [abstention], Iraq has reiterated a firm stance, namely not resorting to the internationalization of Arab issues, because this can open the door to other issues and problems faced by other countries in our Arab region.”
According to Al-Matlabi,”The resolution adopted by the Arab League Council on Syria is one of the grave resolutions adopted at the level of future Arab action. This is because the next step is going to the United Nations, which means opening the doors for the internationalization of many issues and problems of the other countries, including for instance Bahrain, which also witnesses violence.”
The Iraqi Member of Parliament stressed that ,”If we resort to the internationalization of the Syrian issue at a later stage, in case the commitments are not implemented, then we ought to have adopted similar resolutions about other Arab countries.”
“We all know very well that Al-Qaeda organization now has started to be active in Syria to the extent that groups (Al-Qaeda) have started to decapitate people by sword, the same as they did in Iraq, and hence silence over such issues is something that arouses many questions.” Al-Matlabi added.
With regard to whether Iraq will adhere to the resolution and recall its ambassador to Damascus, Al-Matlabi told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I exclude the possibility of recalling the Iraqi ambassador to Damascus under such circumstances, especially as the situation of Iraq with regard to Syria is different from that of the other Arab countries; this is not because of a political or any other reasons, but it is because of the existence of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in Syria.” Al-Matlabi considers, “Recalling the ambassador means that the presence of these Iraqis under the current circumstances faced by Syria means leaving them to face a storm.”