Aoun and Iraqi envoy vow to boost ties

Iraqi envoy Mohammad Reda Husseini affirmed Thursday during a meeting with President Joseph Aoun at Baabda Palace Baghdad’s “will to strengthen and develop” ties with Lebanon in various fields, “in accordance with the discussions held during President Aoun’s last visit to Baghdad,” the Presidency said on X.

Last month, the head of state visited Iraq and called for the establishment of a "common market" among Arab countries. He then met with the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani and the Iraqi President, Abdellatif Rachid.

This express visit to Baghdad took place after a controversy, in mid-May, a few days before the Arab summit organized in Baghdad, due to the absence of Aoun at this event. The presidency indicated that the absence was because the president and his wife Neemat Aoun were expected at the Vatican for the inaugural mass of the new Pope Leo XIV, which was held on the same day, without seeing political reasons.

This controversy occurred after a statement by the Lebanese head of state regarding the disarmament of Hezbollah and the integration of its fighters into the army, in which he mentioned the Iraqi experience. He called for not reproducing "the experience of the Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi, by integrating Hezbollah into the army or making Hezbollah an independent unit within it." The Hashd al-Shaabi is a coalition of predominantly pro-Iranian paramilitary groups integrated into the Iraqi state apparatus.