---
title: "In Damascus, a first: Iraq’s prime minister crosses the border that Assad’s fall redrew"
description: "Ali al-Zaidi and Ahmed al-Sharaa talk trade, the Baniyas oil pipeline and stability between two neighbours"
author: "Jan Sokol"
published: 2026-10-28T13:47:39Z
modified: 2026-10-28T19:40:41Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/in-damascus-a-first-iraq-s-prime-minister-crosses-the-border-822744
language: en
tags: ["syria", "iraq", "oil", "diplomacy", "chevron", "mideast"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# In Damascus, a first: Iraq’s prime minister crosses the border that Assad’s fall redrew

*Ali al-Zaidi and Ahmed al-Sharaa talk trade, the Baniyas oil pipeline and stability between two neighbours*

By Jan Sokol · October 28, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/in-damascus-a-first-iraq-s-prime-minister-crosses-the-border-822744

## In brief

- Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Wednesday
- It is the first visit by an Iraqi leader to Syria since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December 2024
- Al-Zaidi travelled with a federal delegation and was received by al-Sharaa, Syrian state media said
- Talks covered trade, the Baniyas oil pipeline and stability as both sides seek deeper oil and economic ties

The shortest distance between two former enemies is often a motorcade. On Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi arrived in Damascus to meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa — the first visit of an Iraqi prime minister to Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, [as Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/28/iraqi-pm-ali-al-zaidi-meets-ahmed-al-sharaa-in-historic-syria-visit). [The National notes](https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/10/28/iraqs-al-zaidi-begins-visit-to-syria-in-first-high-profile-trip-since-al-shara-took-power/) that no Iraqi leader has made such a trip since Assad’s ouster in December 2024, and that al-Zaidi is travelling with a federal delegation. According to [Asharq Al-Awsat](https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5334636-iraqi-pm-visits-syria-neighbors-seek-boost-economic-ties), Syrian state media said al-Sharaa himself received the prime minister on arrival.

## The agenda on the table

The visit comes as the two neighbours seek to strengthen bilateral ties and to boost economic and oil cooperation. The talks, Al Jazeera reported, cover trade, the Baniyas oil pipeline and stability — the vocabulary of two states trying to turn a shared border into a shared livelihood rather than a shared suspicion.

Every epoch has its crossings. In the Middle East, the fall of a ruler in one capital sends the diplomats of the next capital reaching for their atlases, measuring what has changed and what can finally be said aloud. Baghdad and Damascus have known long decades when such a visit would have been unthinkable; on Wednesday it became, simply, a working afternoon. What the pipeline talks will yield, and what stability will mean in practice on either side of the frontier, remains to be settled — but the door, long closed, is now open, and a prime minister has walked through it.