PM Nawaf Salam (left), Iraqi Fm Saleh Al-Sari (center) and his Lebanese counterpart Yassine Jaber (right), at Baghdad airport, July 26, 2026. (Credit: X account of the Grand Serail)
BEIRUT — Prime Minister Nawaf Salam arrived Sunday in Baghdad, heading a ministerial delegation made up of Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, Energy and Water Minister Joe Saddi, and Telecommunications Minister Charles Hage, according to a post on the Grand Serail’s X account.
The Lebanese leader is expected to discuss with his Iraqi counterpart, Ali al-Zaidi, several economic issues, including the “Iraqi-Syrian-Lebanese” pipeline project, by reviving the Kirkuk-Tripoli pipeline, according to the press.
This visit echoes the announcement on July 19 by Syria’s official SANA news agency, reporting that Damascus and Baghdad had “taken a major step toward reactivating the historic oil corridor” Kirkuk-Banias — which was part of a network of Iraqi pipelines that, beginning in the 1930s, connected the country to Haifa in Palestine as well as to the Lebanese port of Tripoli.
According to information from al-Modon, parallel bilateral meetings will take place between Minister Jaber and his Iraqi counterpart, Finance Minister Faleh al-Sari; between Minister Saddi and Iraqi Energy and Water Minister, Bassem Mohammed Khodeir al-Abadi; and between Minister Hage and Iraqi Telecommunications Minister , Moustafa Jaber Sanad. These meetings are expected to focus on the possibility of linking Lebanon to Iraq via internet data transmission cables.
In Baghdad, new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who rose to power with backing from Washington, is, like Lebanese authorities, under pressure to disarm Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups accused of carrying out hundreds of attacks on American infrastructure in Iraq during the Middle East war triggered by Israeli-American strikes against Iran in late February. The weapons monopoly is a priority of the Lebanese government.
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