DAMASCUS: The visit of Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Syria signals the near end of the war-torn country’s decade-long isolation in the Arab world ahead of the upcoming Arab Summit, experts said.
Nahyan’s visit to Syria’s capital Damascus on Tuesday is the first time a UAE senior official has landed on the Arab country since the Syrian war erupted in 2011. During his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the UAE minister highlighted his country’s support for the efforts to achieve stability in Syria. He pointed out that what happened in Syria had affected all Arab countries, noting Syria under the leadership of al-Assad is capable of overcoming all challenges posed by the war. For his part, Assad hailed the “objective and right” stance of the UAE, saying the UAE has always stood with the Syrian people.
In fact, the visit wasn’t the first signal of normalization of relations between the two countries or even between Syria and the Arab world. As early as 2018, the UAE reopened its embassy in Damascus after seven years of closure. In the same year, Bahrain followed the lead of the UAE and resumed its diplomatic representation in Syria. On October 20 this year, Assad discussed with Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces, in a phone call about bilateral relations and ways to boost mutual interests of both people. In the same month, Assad spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan as the two countries were reopening their borders under a regional agreement to deliver Egypt’s gas to Lebanon through Jordan and Syria.
In Damascus, experts believed that the visit of the UAE foreign minister crowned all previous signs of normalization between Syria and other Arab countries, ushering in a new diplomatic track to bring back Syria into the Arab political system. Nahyan’s visit is “one of the signs about the gradual change to a new era of opening up in Damascus and having Syria regain its regional and international role,” said Bassam Abdullah, a Syrian political analyst. He cited the participation of Syria in the World Expo hosted by Dubai in the UAE this year and the meeting between the oil ministers of the two countries as evidence of ongoing economic cooperation.
Ahmad al-Ashqar, a journalist and political expert, told Xinhua that the UAE, Jordan and Egypt, along with other Arab countries, have realized the need to bring back Syria to the Arab League, particularly after the Syrian government managed to regain control more than 80 percent of the Syrian territories. “The Arab countries have realized that their approach to the Syrian crisis wasn’t accurate during the past 10 years as it has allowed other regional countries to engage in the Syrian affairs amid the absence of an Arab voice, which created an environment for terrorism and chaos,” he said. Ashqar predicted that Syria will regain its long-suspended membership in the Arab League.
Emad Salem, also a Syrian expert, told Xinhua that Syria’s participation in the upcoming Arab Summit scheduled for March in Algeria is almost confirmed, and the doors are now wide open for Syria to return to the Arab League. On the other hand, the return of Syria to the Arab League would reduce foreign influence and intervention in the country, Salem noted. He also pointed out that the openness of Arab countries to Syria would help boost the country’s economy and ease the impact of Western sanctions and siege on Syria. About the U.S. objection to the UAE official’s visit to Syria, Salem said Washington is reluctant to admit its mistake about Syria and keeps exerting pressure on it in the hope of obtaining concessions from the Syrian government.