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Several Arab countries will meet this Friday, April 14, in Saudi Arabia to discuss relations with Syria, at a time when efforts are intensifying to reduce the isolation of the Syrian President. A meeting that could end more than a decade of diplomatic isolation in Syria.
Twelve years after being expelled from Arab nations, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is trying to regain his place among his peers.
The meeting will take place in Jeddah, in western Saudi Arabia, between senior officials from six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and ministers from Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, revealed the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Majed Al-Ansari. The meeting takes place five weeks before the next Arab League summit, scheduled for May 19 in Saudi Arabia.
A meeting dedicated to a possible re-establishment of relations with Syria, after more than a decade of diplomatic isolation by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Two days before the meeting in Jeddah, Syrian Foreign Minister Fayçal Moqdad was received by his Saudi counterpart, Fayçal ben Farhane, for the first time since the beginning of the war. In a joint communiqué, the two authorities spoke about the aim of “bring Syria back under Arab rule and resuming the natural role” in the region.
This Friday’s meeting “Aims to overcome Gulf disagreements over Syria”according to an Arab diplomat in Riyadh. “The Saudis are trying to ensure that Qatar does not oppose Syria’s return to the Arab League”, he added. Qatar has welcomed the re-establishment of ties between Riyadh and Tehran but remains hostile to normalization with Bashar al-Assad. Its prime minister described the declarations on Syria’s return to the Arab League as “speculative”judging that the reasons for his expulsion remain valid and that such “decision belongs to the Syrian people”.