IRAQ - Maliki In Damascus.

The delegation of visiting PM Maliki and their Syrian counterparts on Aug. 21 signed an agreement to bolster security along the two countries' porous 466-mile border, which US military officials say is the crossing point for most of the foreign Neo-Salafi fighters in Iraq. At a press conference in Damascus with Syrian PM Muhammad Naji Utri, Maliki on Aug. 22 said: "This agreement is very important because it will mark a permanent and co-operative effort to secure our border".

The pact marked the first formalised security deal between two states which have shared suspicions of each other since Saddam's Sunni/Ba'thist dictatorship. It came as Baghdad and Washington were looking for help across the Middle East to ease the violence in Iraq. In July, Iran agreed to join a security sub-committee with the US and Iraq.

Frustration in Washington with slow progress in Iraq - in terms of politics and security - has put Maliki in the sights of US politicians. On Aug. 20, Sen. Carl Levin (D) of Michigan called for his resignation, while President Bush also voiced frustration at his leadership. Maliki on Aug. 21 said "no one has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government...elected by its people" (see news9SaudiIraqAug27-07).

US and Iraqi officials have long contended that the 'Alawite/Ba'thist dictatorship in Syria has been complicit in the funnelling of both Neo-Salafi and Shi'ite militants across the border who carry out sensational attacks in Iraq. But the Syrians flatly reject these accusations and say the border is too long to adequately manage.

The deal came with increasing concern over 2m Iraqis taking refuge in Syria. Leftist Beirut daily as-Safir on Aug. 22 said: "The security issue in Iraq has now become a regional matter, and Syria is growing more and more concerned". About 10,000 Iraqis are entering Syria every week. As a result, real estate and food prices in Syria are being driven up while the country is experiencing major power blackouts because electricity output is failing to keep pace with demand.

Syria is to help in return for rehabilitation of the Kirkuk-Banias crude oil pipeline which was stopped by the US in March 2003. From 2000 to then, the pipeline used to pump 150,000-200,000 b/d to Syria at a discounted price and outside the UN framework. It had generated hundreds of millions of dollars a year in revenue for Syria. It is not clear whether the US will allow this oil route to be revived.

During his Aug. 20-22 visit, Maliki asked President Bashar al-Assad to hand over elements of Saddam's Ba'th Party said to be hiding in Syria and funding the insurgency in Iraq. Assad reportely denied the request and is said to have urged Maliki to scrap the de-Baathification clause in the Iraqi constitution. Maliki, who was on his first visit to Syria as PM, spent years there as a political refugee during the Saddam era.