Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri and Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Hossam Zaki during a meeting of Arab League states in Cairo, May 7, 2023. KHALED DESOUKI / AFP
The Arab countries have decided to turn the page on the Syrian conflict after 12 years of war that have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of refugees. Shut out from the international community and accused of war crimes, President Bashar Al-Assad wins a new diplomatic victory. Led by Saudi Arabia, determined to strengthen its leadership on regional affairs in the context of America’s withdrawal from the Middle East and détente with Iran, the Arab League countries announced on Sunday May 7 the reintegration of Syria approved. The Damascus regime, expelled in 2011, will regain its seat on the pan-Arab body and Mr Assad could attend the annual summit of heads of state to be held in Jeddah on May 19.
“Each phase of the Syrian crisis has proven that there is no military solution and there is no winner or loser,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri at the opening of the emergency meeting in Cairo. The only way to a solution in Syria is a political solution without external dictates. The reintegration of Syria, argues the Arab League in a press release, is necessary to find a way out of this war, whose security, humanitarian and political repercussions affect neighboring countries, such as the issue of Syrian refugees, terrorism and the trade in Captagon, an amphetamine , with which the Assad regime is flooding the region.
This decision crowns normalization efforts that the Syrian regime, with support from Moscow, has been making for more than five years. After Assad’s forces recaptured much of the country in 2018 with the help of his Iranian and Russian sponsors, countries in the region were left to take note of the Syrian dictator’s “victory”. The main opposition supporters, the Gulf States, had stopped funding the rebels. However, only the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, joined by Jordan in 2021, had resumed ties with Damascus, concerned about the growing influence of Iran and Turkey and the impotence of the international community to reach a political solution. The earthquake that struck Syria and neighboring Turkey on February 6, 2023 and the accompanying show of solidarity accelerated Arab rapprochement.
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” This is unacceptable “
Saudi Arabia’s change of foot changed the situation. Since Riyadh signed an easing agreement with Tehran under Beijing’s aegis on March 10, Riyadh has been working to end conflicts in the Middle East and establish a new regional balance. Alongside reviving peace efforts in Yemen, Arab normalization with the Assad regime is a priority for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Saudi diplomats are busy creating an Arab consensus. The Saudi kingdom led by example by resuming diplomatic ties with the Syrian regime during a visit by its diplomatic chief, Prince Faisal Ben Farhan, to Damascus on April 18.
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