fSyria’s internationally isolated President Bashar al-Assad has achieved another success in efforts to normalize relations with regional Arab neighbors. The foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq met their Syrian counterpart Faisal al-Mikdad in Amman on Monday.
It was about the Syrian conflict and a normalization of relations with the Assad government, as the Jordanian Foreign Ministry announced.
Syria’s membership of the Arab League was suspended in 2011 after government forces violently crushed protests in the country. The uprisings turned into a civil war that continues to this day. Assad is largely isolated because of his government’s violent crackdown on its own people.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman are now campaigning for Syria to return to the Arab League. The organization’s next summit is scheduled for this month in Saudi Arabia, where the possible return of Syria is likely to be a dominant issue. According to the announcement on Monday, Syria should ensure, among other things, a safe return for refugees. The “voluntary return of refugees has top priority,” it said.
To this end, Damascus should coordinate with other countries and the United Nations and, for example, improve public services in some Syrian regions. According to the UN, most Syrian refugees now live in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.
Most recently, regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia announced that they would resume bilateral relations after years of a diplomatic ice age. This also makes a rapprochement on the subject of Syria tangible: Riyadh had supported rebels in the Syrian civil war, Iran is a close ally of the Assad government.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is expected in Damascus on Wednesday – the first such visit since 2011.