In search of legitimacy on the Arab scene, the Syrian leader went to the Sultanate of Oman, renowned for his role as mediator.
by Laure Stephan (Beirut , correspondence)
Raide and smiling, Bashar al-Assad was greeted by Oman’s sultan at the foot of his plane barely posed in Mascate, Monday, February 20. Aux AcoLades succeeded a hedge of honor: a moment that the leader, prohibited in recent years on the Arab scene, has only been able to savor. Determined to get out of his isolation, the Syrian power grabs the hand stretched by several of his peers, the United Arab Emirates (water) in mind, since the deadly earthquake of February 6.
This rare displacement is the second that the Syrian president has in an Arab capital since his ban by the Gulf monarchies in 2012, while the bloody repression by the popular uprising regime rocked in a deadly war. This visit of a few hours is a new threshold crossed in Arab diplomatic activism that is played in Damascus since the earthquake.
According to OMANE and Syrian official press releases, the Sultan, Haitham Ben Tareq, and Bashar al-Assad spoke of “joint cooperation” and “efforts to consolidate security and stability in the region”. The Syrian news agency Sana adds that sultanate “hopes to see [Syria] return to its normal relations with all other Arab countries”.
This meeting is important due to the role of mediator of Oman. “The sultanate is the secret cuisine of regional reconciliation agreements. Oman has the confidence of Iran [Damascus ally] and the United States [opposed to Syrian power]. Bashar al-Assad undoubtedly needs its informal canals To move the lines “, points, from Amman, the political analyst Amer Sabaileh. The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, went to Oman in 2022, to push the return of Syria to the Arab lap, an objective that the godfather of the al-Assad regime has been pursuing for years.
counter Iranian influence
Since the earthquake, the Syrian president, pariah in the eyes of the Westerners who attribute the destruction of Syria to him, has never ceased to thank the “Arab brothers”. The condolence messages followed one another after the disaster which made more than 3,600 victims in Syria (including the majority in rebel areas), to which are added the Syrian refugees who died in Turkey. More than a hundred aircraft responsible for aid for devastated government regions have taken off from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Oman, Algeria, and even Saudi Arabia.
By helping the Syrians, these countries also push their political pawns. This is particularly worth for the United Arab Emirates, eager to counter the Iranian influence in Syria. “With Jordan, whose diplomacy is aligned with their own, and Egypt, the Emirates form a trio favorable to a rapprochement with Syria. The earthquake allows them to break political taboos to re -engage, but their efforts are more Ancients “, deciphers Amer Sabaileh. Water and Jordan have dispatched their foreign ministers to Damascus.
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