Arab nations are moving further toward renewing diplomatic relations with the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad, which were cut off following the civil war in the country.
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In 2011, after Assad failed to comply with the demands of the Arab League to stop the bloodshed in Syria, most Arab states announced the suspension of ties with the country. Now, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Tunisia, Oman, Iraq, and Algeria have publicly stated their desire to renew relations with Syria. The Palestinian Authority has also joined the bandwagon with a delegation headed by Jibril Rajoub currently visiting Damascus.
The rationale might be to pull Syria back into the bosom of the Arab world in order to strengthen the Arab League; perhaps the goal is to tempt Assad to distance Syria from Iran, and perhaps the Arab countries understand that without Syria, there cannot be stability in the Middle East. To be honest, all the answers are correct.
In view of the changes we are witnessing in the Middle East, the aggressive Iranian hegemony, and the internal Arab rift, the countries wishing to renew ties with Syria understand that in the current situation Assad is not the problem, but the solution to the tragedy in his country. The paradox is that the Western world has also understood that this is the situation. A decade ago, when the civil war erupted as part of what was known as the Arab Spring, intelligence sources gave Assad two weeks to a month before being removed from the political arena. It never happened. In fact, the opposite happened and Assad is still in power. It transpires that he knew how to read the map of his country and that leaning on the Russians and Iranians saved his regime.
What is outrageous about this story is that the world has forgotten about the millions of refugees displaced from Syria, about the hundreds of thousands who lost their lives, and about the fact that Assad used illegal arms, such as the use of chemical weapons against civilians Have they forgotten the use of barrel bombs that his forces threw from the skies on civilians? It seems that the world has given up on its demand for human rights and human dignity, in favor of short-term interests and industrial quiet. Today, Assad controls the majority of his country. He can continue to control it with the Golan in Israel's hands and the Hatay province in Turkey's hands.
In view of the current reality, the question arises whether it would not be prudent to strengthen the above-mentioned trend and to try and release Assad from Iran's grip. In my view, such an attempt would be worthwhile, not to give a prize to the Syrian president but to bring about a substantial change. The Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov once said to me that Moscow is willing to me is willing to play a role to bring Israel and Syria closer, and that if Israel were to make an approach it would fall on attentive ears. If Jerusalem decides to go down that path, the goal will not be to save the Assad regime. He must pay for his crimes – but to commence a process of economic, social, and political healing in Syria while maintaining its territorial integrity.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has a major role to play in any such attempt to vis-à-vis Damascus. Israel's strong standing in the region will enable it to play its cards and pressure levers in order to bring about change in Syria that will lead to stability and the distancing of the Iranians. This is not an easy mission, but it is a possible one.
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