DAMASCUS, Syria - Authorities in Syria conducted a one-day search of a home owned by former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in Damascus. The house, located in the al-Mazraa neighborhood, has not been confiscated or seized, despite rumors circulating on social media.

The reports of a raid on Talabani’s home, which emerged across Arab and international media platforms, sparked significant discussion online. However, The New Region has learned that after the search, the home was secured in cooperation with the ruling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Iraqi Embassy in Damascus.

Control of the property was then handed over to an individual by the name “Madame Maryam,” identified as Talabani's legal representative.

Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the house belongs to Talabani’s family.

The ministry said Syrian forces entered the apartment and took its keys under the belief that it had been gifted to the Talabani family by the former Syrian regime. The home, purchased in 1974, was not vandalized or damaged during the search, officials added.

 Photos: The New Region

Affectionately known among Kurds as “Mam Jalal,” or Uncle Jalal, Talabani, was a prominent Kurdish leader and Iraq’s first Kurdish president who served two terms beginning in 2005.

A founder of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), he was a champion of Kurdish rights and democracy in Iraq.

He established the PUK on June 1, 1975, after the collapse of the Kurdish Revolution and the signing of the 1975 Algiers Agreement between Iraq and Iran. The party emerged following a pivotal meeting in Damascus, where Talabani joined other Kurdish intellectuals and activists, including Fuad Masum, Adel Murad, and Abdul-Razaq Faily, to create a new political movement.