Hassan Shoucair, director of the Lebanese General Security, on November 30, 2025, at the presidential palace in Baabda, during Pope Leo XIV’s visit. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — The director general of General Security (GS) Hassan Shoucair traveled to Iraq to meet with the country's new prime minister Ali al-Zaidi, who was appointed in April, according to a GS statement.
Shoucair and al-Zaidi discussed "ways to develop bilateral relations in several areas, and expressed his thanks to him and to brotherly Iraq for their humanitarian and fraternal stance toward Lebanon."
He also met with Ali al-Zaidi's predecessor, Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, whom he likewise thanked for Iraq's support.
Baghdad and Beirut maintain close ties in a relationship where several heads of General Security — a position generally held by Shiites since the late 1990s — have played an important behind-the-scenes role.
In April, Iraq sent Lebanon one million liters of fuel and 1,000 tons of wheat by truck. Several sources in the ministries of Energy, Finance and Economy told L’Orient-Le Jour that the assistance was reportedly secured through Shoucair's intervention.
In 2020, Iraq sent the same amount of fuel to Lebanon while the country was grappling with the economic crisis that began in 2019 and the aftermath of the August 4 Beirut port explosion. At the time, Abbas Ibrahim, who maintained close ties with Iraqi authorities, was heading General Security.
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