Iraq's Foreign Minister Defies U.N. And Flies To Syria As U.S. Acts Against Qatari Royal
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline & AFP) – Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz arrived in Damascus by airplane Saturday, becoming the first Iraqi official to fly out of Baghdad since the U.N. sanctions were imposed 10 years ago, officials said.
"There is no embargo on [Iraqi] civil aviation," Aziz told journalists after meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara.
"That is an American lie. We are now resuming travel in a normal way," he said.
He said afterwards that he was making a stopover on his way to China.
The move comes as an increasing number of countries, including Syria, are challenging an international air embargo imposed on Iraq since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Several humanitarian flights have traveled to Iraq from Syria since October 8th in the first direct air connections between the two countries since they broke off diplomatic relations in 1980.
Governed by rival factions of the Baath party, Syria and Iraq began in 1997 to normalize relations and opened up their borders to officials and business people.
Iraq earlier this month also launched domestic air services for the first time since the 1991 Gulf War, with Iraqi Airways planes traveling from Baghdad to Basra and Mosul, both in no-fly zones patrolled by U.S. and British forces.
In addition, the United States said it would take action against a member of the Qatari royal family due to a recent gift of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet to Iraq, saying that the gift is "inconsistent" with sanctions against Baghdad, reported Reuters.
Sheikh Hamad bin Ali Al-Thani, also chief of Gulf Falcon air services company had presented the jumbo jet to Iraq to show his solidarity with Saddam Hussein and Iraqi citizens.
In a joint press statement, U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright and U.S. Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta said that the U.S. government will take immediate action to restrict export and re-exports of U.S.-origin products to Sheikh Al-Thani.
The statement said that U.S. government wants "to prevent any further diversion of U.S.-origin goods to Iraq that are inconsistent with United Nations Security Council resolutions."
Mineta said on Friday, "The sanctions announced today demonstrate that the United States will take prompt action when our laws are violated. The Commerce Department is imposing a general order that will require specific Commerce permission for exports or re-exports to the Sheikh or related commercial entities. This action is designed to ensure that U.S. items will not be diverted to Iraq."
