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UAE reopens Damascus embassy after seven years
DAMASCUS, Dec 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The United Arab Emirates reopened its
embassy in Damascus Thursday, the latest sign of efforts to bring the Syrian
government back into the Arab fold.
The UAE broke ties with Syria in February 2012, as the repression of
nationwide protests demanding regime change was escalating into a devastating
war.
Nearly seven years later, the Emirati flag was raised again during a
ceremony attended by diplomats and journalists.
An acting charge d’affaires has already started working, an Emirati
statement said, stressing that the UAE was “keen to put relations back on
their normal track”.
It said that the resumption of ties aimed to “support the sovereignty and
independence of Syria” and face “the dangers of regional interferences”.
Rumours of the Emirati embassy reopening had circulated in recent days as
renovation work was spotted getting under way at the building.
A visit to Damascus by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir earlier this month
had been interpreted by some observers as a sign of regional efforts to end
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s diplomatic isolation.
A few hours after the UAE’s announcement, Bahrain signalled its intention
to reopen its embassy in Damascus, which has been closed since March 2012.
The Gulf state’s foreign ministry said it was “anxious to continue
relations” with Syria and wants “to strengthen the Arab role and reactivate
it in order to preserve the independence, sovereignty and territorial
integrity of Syria and prevent the risk of regional interference in its
affairs”.
– Pariah no more? –
Syria was suspended from the Arab League in November 2011, as the death
toll was escalating and several regional powers bet on Assad’s demise.
The conflict has now killed more than 360,000 people.
Assad’s seat at the helm, which he inherited from his father in 2000,
appeared to be hanging by a thread until Russia’s 2015 military intervention
turned things around.
Government forces and allied militia have since steadily regained
significant ground. They now firmly control the Damascus region and several
key trade routes in the country.
The past few days have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity that looks set
to continue until the next summit of the Arab League, due in Tunis in March.
“Recent discussions on this issue have not yielded a consensus,” Hossam
Zaki, the League’s deputy secretary general, told reporters in Cairo on
Monday.
“This does not rule out a possible change of the Arab position in the
future,” he added.
Ali Mamluk, Syria’s intelligence chief and a key figure in the Assad
regime, travelled to Egypt last week on an official visit.
With military operations winding down in several parts of the country and
the capital fully secure, Damascus is also working on breaking its physical
isolation.
– Saudi money –
Trade with Jordan resumed in recent weeks after the reopening of a border
crossing and Thursday saw the first commercial flight to Tunisia in years.
A Cham Wings Airlines jet completed the first flight between the two
countries since 2011.
“This trip is the reopening of tourism links between Syria and Tunisia,”
Moataz Tarbin, the head of the tourism firm that organised the flight, told
AFP.
It is not yet clear if more Arab countries, several of which were accused
by Assad of once supporting jihadists and rebels, will follow in the UAE’s
footsteps.
The UAE and Bahrain are two of six Gulf Cooperation Council nations that
took a tough stance on Damascus in 2012 and eventually recognised an
opposition umbrella group as the representative of Syria.
Warming up to Assad is seen by some regional powers as a way of luring
Syria away from the exclusive regional influence of Iran.
“An Arab role in Syria has become even more necessary to face the regional
expansionism of Iran and Turkey,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
Anwar Gargash said on Twitter.
Tehran has been a staunch supporter of Assad’s government and has expanded
its military footprint in Syria throughout the course of the conflict.
Last week’s announcement by the White House that US troops would be pulled
out also cleared the path for Turkey to muscle in on Kurdish areas in
northeastern Syria.
US President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that Saudi Arabia, Iran’s
regional arch foe, had agreed to finance Syria’s huge reconstruction needs.
“Saudi Arabia has now agreed to spend the necessary money needed to help
rebuild Syria, instead of the United States,” Trump said on social media.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0900 hrs