2023-05-09 05:55:37
- Writing *
- BBC News World
image source, Getty Images
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
Syria is back in the influential Arab League more than a decade after being expelled.
The measure is further proof of the recomposition of relations between Damascus and the Arab governments, which broke down after the brutal repression carried out by the government of Bashar al-Assad in the pro-democracy protests in 2011, which led to a bloody civil war that is still ongoing.
From Cairo – the place where the decision to readmit Syria was made this Sunday – the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul GeitHe said this was the beginning of a process to resolve the crisis in Syria, which would be “gradual”.
In addition, the body stressed the need to put an end to the civil war in that country and the consequent refugee and drug trafficking crises.
The United States and the United Kingdom, however, criticized the resolution. For them, the Assad regime does not deserve to be reinstated.
“Assad continues to detain, torture and kill innocent Syrians,” said Commonwealth Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Development Affairs, Lord Ahmad.
Syria will re-enter the League shortly before the arab summit to be held on May 19 in Saudi Arabia, which the president of that country will now be able to attend, marking a strong change in political and diplomatic relations with its neighbors.
Strengthening ties
Syrian moves to restore ties with the region accelerated after the devastating earthquake that occurred in February in Türkiye and Syriain a rush to get help.
image source, Getty Images
One of the buildings that collapsed in Syria after the strong earthquake that hit that country and Turkey last February.
In recent weeks, a beaming Bashar al-Assad has held meetings with senior Arab leaders.
Last Wednesday, in fact, he met in Damascus with the Islamist cleric and president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, in what was the first visit to Syria by an Iranian leader since 2010, before the Arab Spring uprisings.
Assad has also been received in oman and in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he has sought to improve relations.
Meanwhile, his foreign minister has been to Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Jordan.
The change in position regarding Assad has been dramatic. The Syrian president has been rejected as a pariah in the Arab world for a decade, but now, little by little, he is being looked upon favorably again.
And it is that, according to analysts, its neighbors they can’t afford to ignore it for much longer.
“The international community outside the region, apart from Russia, has washed its hands of responsibility for Syria,” he told him. Chris Doyledirector of the Council for British-Arab Understanding (Caabu), to BBC News journalist Yolande Knell.
“There is a vacuum and this is where the regional powers have come in. They see that if nothing is going to change, if there is not going to be a real political process, then we as a region cannot afford to ignore Syria. It’s too big and significant a country.”he added.
Many Syrians feel disappointed by the new relations between Assad and the Arab world.
image source, Getty Images
Since the start of the civil war, millions of Syrians have been displaced. In the photo, the Idlib refugee camp.
It must be remembered that, more than a decade after the start of the civil war in that country, approximately half of the population has been displaced or turned into a refugee, and the UN conservatively estimates that more than 300,000 civilians have died and more than 100,000 have been detained or disappeared.
Millions of people living in the hands of the opposition once saw Saudi Arabia and other Arab states as allies in their fight against the Assad government. But now they are more isolated.
Displaced Syrians in the rebel-held northwestern part of Idlib have said they are shocked by the Arab League’s decision.
“Instead of the Arab leaders helping us and taking us out of these camps where we suffer and live in pain, they bleached the hands of criminals and murderers“, a man told the AFP news agency.
On the other hand, refugees, particularly in Lebanon and Turkey, where acceptance has declined due to economic crises, are increasingly concerned about the risk of forced returns.
Turkey, which has been a major backer of Syrian armed opposition groups, has also been talking to Damascus. Almost all the parties campaigning for the May 14 elections say they want to send Syrians home.
“We are very afraid of the election results. They clearly say they want to deport us,” a Syrian refugee, Muhammad, told the BBC.
Human rights activists have expressed great disappointment at the lack of references to atrocities committed by the Assad regime in the Syrian readmission talks.
image source, Getty Images
Twelve years after the start of the civil war, Syrians demonstrate against the Bashar al-Assad regime.
“It’s shocking,” he told her. Diana Semaan, Amnesty International researcher, to the BBC.
“What we are seeing now is a complete disregard for the Syrian government’s human rights records and a message that is sent that no matter what happened”he added.
Amnesty International urged Arab countries to use their influence to try to prevent further attacks on civilians and arbitrary detention and torture in Syria.
For its part, the UN is trying to establish an international body to help the families of the disappeared to find out the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.
Meanwhile, in Geneva, a team of lawyers continues to work hard to support the prosecution of those accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.
Return to a normal life?
But some Syrians also hope that the new relationship between their country and the region can usher in a return to normal life.
Residents of government-controlled Syria are dealing with skyrocketing inflation and crippling energy shortages.
According to the UN, even before the devastating February earthquake struck that country, 15.3 million people, the70% of the population needed humanitarian assistance.
However, Heiko Wimmen, who oversees the International Crisis Group’s work in Syria, stresses that, at this stage, Gulf Arab states are unlikely to contribute the billions of dollars needed to rebuild Syria’s crumbling cities.
image source, Getty Images
Bashar al-Assad has been in power in Syria since 2000.
“US sanctions are only one part of that problem. It’s a very prohibitive environment from an economic point of view. You need governance that works, a basic level of accountability,” he says.
To survive, over the years the cash-strapped Syrian regime has raided and confiscated dozens of companies. He is also accused of divert tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid aimed at impoverished Syrians, as well as alleged drug trafficking.
The United States has called on Arab countries that are choosing to end Assad’s isolation to get something in return.
The Under Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Barbara Leaf,suggested trying to end trade in captagonan illegal drug that is produced in Syria and used for smuggling.
Other demands could be a reduction in Iran’s military presence in Syria and the establishment of conditions that allow more refugees to return home or protect people living in parts of Syria still under opposition control.
But none of this is, for now, a reality.
And despite the fact that the Arab League said that the reinstatement of Syria did not necessarily mean the resumption of relations, every move by the region’s leaders seem to prove otherwise at a time when the Syrian war and its aftermath have largely disappeared from news portals around the world.
*With the reportwould have from JerusalemI BBC News journalist Yolande Knell, and Kathryn Armstrong, also a BBC News reporter.
image source, Getty Images
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