Iraqi ambassador to Syria summoned to Baghdad

The former Iraqi ambassador in Damascus, Muhammad Rifat al-Ani, received a request from his foreign ministry to return back to Baghdad, two months following the closure of the Iraqi embassy in Damascus and suspension of its activities.

Sources at the Iraqi embassy said that al-Ani will leave Damascus on Friday back to Baghdad at the request which was addressed by the Iraqi foreign ministry --which is supervised by the American- British occupation forces -- to all Iraqi ambassadors abroad. Thereby the number of Iraqi diplomats who had left Damascus are so far 15 whereas 10 diplomats do not know the position of the American administration regarding them.

The Iraqi embassy stopped its "consulate" activity with the closure of the Syrian- Iraqi borders fully.

Al-Ani was the first Iraqi ambassador to open diplomatic activity between the two states in 1997 following a cession of relations that started by the beginning of the 1980s.