The Impact of the American Variable on Iraqi-Syrian Relations

Iraqi-Syrian relations gain special importance due to the importance of these two countries and their political and economic weight in the Middle East region, and due to the mutual influence of each of them on the political reality of the other as well, since every internal or external development in the policy of one of them must affect the other country directly or indirectly in a way that exceeds what happens in most other countries in the world, due to the historical, geographical and social proximity between the two countries. Despite all this, the Iraqi-Syrian relations throughout their long history have raised many different positions, even before their establishment as two independent neighboring states in the period between the two world wars, as the relations between them were marred by a lot of tension, estrangement and mutual accusations that the other party was working to destabilize the security and stability of the other party in various ways and means, due to the difference in viewpoints and interests of the political systems in both countries, especially in the period before 2003 and the period after it, so these relations fell under the influence of many local, regional and international influences and factors, and the international influences were great in their weight on the Iraqi-Syrian relations, especially since those influences were sponsored by the strategies of important countries such as the United States of America and the Russian Federation. These powers were able to interfere in the relations between these two Arab countries and contain them in order to achieve their interests in the region, as both powers were able to employ the concept of humanitarian intervention in order to achieve political, economic, military and security goals to protect their national interests.