Abu Dhabi dispatched his foreign minister to Damascus and perseveres in his attempts to make a regional rapprochement with the Syrian regime, despite US warnings.
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The call launched from Washington, Friday, November 12, by the Head of Qatari, Mohammed Ben Abderrahmane Al Thani, to put an end to the connection with Syria in the absence of a Bachar Al-Assad commitment for a Political solution, just as the reminder made by his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, atrocities committed by the Syrian regime in ten years of war, may have little echo at their Arab partners. By sending Damascus on November 9, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cheikh Abdallah Ben Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi took over his regional reconciliation efforts with Assad, determined to rehabilitate the Syrian dictator and to impose the return of Syria into the Arab giron.
“In the eyes of the United Arab Emirates, Assad will stay in power and Syria is a unmissable regional player, so it is better to restore relationships in order to have a form of influence with Damascus, rather than letting The fully free field at Iran and Russia “, allies of the plan, decrypts Sam Heller, the Century Foundation reflection center. The finding is not new to Abu Dhabi. Bridgehead, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the Isolation Policy of Syria, excluded from the Arab League in 2011, the Emirates had been the first to stop supporting the armed opposition, worried about the expansion on the Syrian territory of Islamist movements, Iran and Turkey.
After the reopening of their Embassy in Damascus, at the end of 2018, they increased their support and their economic exchange with the plan, despite the warnings of the US administration. “Emirates gave more than $ 1 billion [873 million euros] of humanitarian aid to areas under control of the plan. They are the third exporting country of products to Syria,” says Joseph Daher, specialist in the Syria at the University of Lausanne. The US sanctions imposed at the end of 2019 under the Caesar law hindered their vellities to invest in the reconstruction of the country, devastated by the war.
Regional Will
The Emirates has returned to the offensive since Joe Biden’s arrival at the White House, who put an end to the “maximum pressure” policy against Iran and its allies, set up under Donald Trump. With the support of Jordan and Egypt – and more discreetly from Saudi Arabia – they plead for a lifting of sanctions and the reintegration of Syria into the Arab League. “There is a real regional will to put an end to the period of [Arab” and returning to authoritarian stability to allow for the resumption of regional investments and reintegration, end with jihadist groups, and cease the rivalries with the Turkey or Qatar that cost a lot, “says Daher.
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