The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, who until recently was seen as an outcast of the Middle East, has received a renewed revival in recent years when a number of Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan decided to renew relations with him after a break of more than a decade. However, in the last year it is evident that the wave of regional normalization remained limited and did not translate into significant diplomatic successes for Syria or economic investments in the devastated country. On top of that, the reconciliation process that recently started between Turkey and Syria and could be a historical turning point, encountered quite a few obstacles and failed to mature as planned.
Extensions and interviews with MKs, experts and security personnel from Israel and the world will be given on March 1, at a conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in collaboration with Kaan News
The tragic earthquake reawakened the Arab sentiment towards Assad and positioned him as a legitimate sovereign and as the exclusive state address for the transfer of aid. Thus, while the Western countries rushed to provide help to Turkey, it was mainly the Middle Eastern countries that joined in sending humanitarian aid to Syria, and more precisely to the Assad regime. Over 200 planes filled with medical equipment, food, blankets and shelter tents have landed in the country so far. The leading countries that mobilized to help are the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Qatar, Algeria, Tunisia, Oman and more. Russia and Iran, well established in the country for almost more than a decade, were the first to provide aid and rescue victims in the regime’s territories.
Dozens of other countries expressed condolences to the Syrian president. The foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Jordan even came on an official visit to the country and emphasized their countries’ support and standing by Syria. The telephone conversation between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Assad was also recorded for the first time since al-Sisi was appointed president in 2014. It was recently reported that the Saudi foreign minister intends to visit Damascus, possibly leading to a gradual thawing of relations between the countries. Saudi Arabia, which during the war supported the rebels who tried to overthrow the Syrian president, has so far been among the most prominent opponents of his renewed recognition. Assad, riding the wave of regional empathy, arrived this week for an official visit to Oman, where it was decided to restore normal relations between Syria and Arab countries.
Assad did not miss the opportunity to squeeze concessions from the Americans as well and launched a timed media campaign together with his partner Hezbollah, calling for the removal of the economic sanctions imposed on the regime by the American government, claiming that they harm the efforts to deal with the disaster. A few days later, the United States announced the exclusion of the humanitarian aid that is transferred to Syria from the sanctions for a period of about three months.
While the regime leverages the disaster for its political and economic needs, in Syria as in Syria, the real victims are the Syrians themselves and especially those who live in the opposition areas in the north and northwest of the country. In fact, these are the most affected areas. The area of Idlib in the northwest, which is defined as the last rebel enclave in Syria and where millions of displaced Syrians live, is controlled by the jihadist opposition organization “The Headquarters for the Liberation of al-Sham”. The oxygen pipeline of this region, on normal days, is Bab al-Hawa – the last remaining border crossing for the transfer of international humanitarian aid to the Syrian territories. However, the earthquake damaged the roads and the access roads to the border crossing and thus effectively blocked any possibility of providing aid in the first days of the disaster. Those who worked diligently to rescue the injured and dead from the ruins were the residents themselves and local organizations. Only after about a week, the UN bodies announced that the Syrian regime had approved the opening of two additional border crossings on the Turkish side in order to speed up aid to the region – a move that amounts to “too little, too late”.
And how is Israel related to the event anyway? Shortly after the earthquake, an unusual request came from Israel to transfer humanitarian aid to Syria. The request came from Russia and it is not known if it was coordinated with the regime, however, after it was published that Israel had expressed its agreement to accept aid, the official press in Syria hastened to deny and ridiculed the Israeli claims on the grounds that it was a propaganda campaign by the Prime Minister, Netanyahu, and that Syria would never ask for help from a country that led to the killing of Syrian citizens over the years.
Finally, alongside the politicization of the crisis, Israel should also pay attention to its “Shiaization”: Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah from Lebanon and Shia militias from Iraq have been flowing massive aid to the stricken country for the past two weeks both via planes and via trucks that cross the border into Syria, unimpeded. In addition to the fact that Iran’s unwavering support once again illustrates the close relationship between the countries, it would not be unreasonable to assume that it is only a matter of time until Tehran decides to also transfer arms and weapons under the guise of humanitarian aid.
Extensions and interviews with MKs, experts and security personnel from the country and the world will be given on March 1, at a conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in collaboration with Kaan News.
Dr. Carmit Valensi is the head of the northern arena at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Tel Aviv University.