中文
By Hamzah Rifaat Hussain
The April 2023 visit by Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to Damascus in Syria presents opportunities for sustainable peace in the Middle East. The trip is the first by a Saudi official since the start of the Syrian war in 2011 and is a significant step towards potentially diffusing the Syrian crisis and allowing Damascus and Riyadh to undertake steps towards reintegrating into the international community.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's meeting with the Saudi Foreign Minister also demonstrates a desire from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to find a diplomatic and political solution to the Syrian conflict in the absence of coercion of great power intervention. That is precisely what is needed.
The visit by the Saudi foreign minister comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity in the region in 2023 which is enabling states to move past decades of hostilities and enduring foreign interventions towards negotiations, mutual understandings and enhanced trading ties.
The resumption of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran following a deal brokered by China, for example, has enabled both Riyadh and Tehran to restore agreements on trade, culture and security while resolving to respect territorial sovereignty. Syria, which has witnessed repeated attempts at government change from respective United States administrations requires similar understandings from regional players.
The absence of regional wisdom and bilateral understanding will continue to hurt the Syrian economy, prolong the conflict and contribute to growing unrest. According to the United Nations Human Rights Office in 2022, more than 306,000 civilians were killed in 10 years since the conflict began in 2011. In 2023, Damascus's real GDP contraction is projected to widen by 2.3 percent percentage points which is ominous as 90 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line and at least 12 million out of 16 million are food insecure.
Adding to Syria's lingering security predicament is the devastating toll from the 2023 earthquake as well as a decline in educational health and public infrastructure facilities that have contributed to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today.
In light of these harrowing realities, normalization between Syria and wealthy Gulf Arab states will enable the former to benefit from economic relief, reconstruction and broader international funding which has been hijacked due to pernicious U.S. sanctions on the Assad government.
According to a statement released by the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry, Prince Faisal's visit falls within the Kingdom's keenness in preserving Syrian unity and allowing it to restore itself within its Arab surroundings. President Assad also stated that the Kingdom's open and realistic policies benefited the region. Capitalizing on these mutual understandings can usher in the necessary investments to take the Syrian economy forward.
Since 2011, proxy warfare has been destroying Syria as American foreign policy remained fixated on political power change and sidelining the Syrian president in any peace formula. This requires a new approach involving treating each government as a stakeholder in the peace process to ensure that conflict resolution materializes.
Sadly, Syria's plight has been brazenly ignored by Washington D.C. which has resulted in the Middle East being divided into camps. This has only exaggerated instead of resolving the war which has taken a heavy toll on Syria's people and contributed to abject poverty.
In light of this, Saudi Arabia's outreach through diplomacy which is in line with the overall warming of relations between Middle Eastern states offers a new approach that could potentially lead to the cessation of hostilities within the country and a workable solution that can restore Damascus on the path of stability.
The trip by Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal comes less than a week after Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited the Kingdom while foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council also met in Jeddah to discuss Syria's prolonged isolation from the international community and whether it was possible for it to return to the 22-member Arab League after its suspension in 2011.
Such regional initiatives must take precedence as Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal acknowledged himself that there is a growing realization that mundane approaches towards Syria need to be replaced with outreach and dialogue to address the humanitarian crisis. Bilaterally, both countries have plenty to gain from amicable ties, especially on the trading front.
In early 2023, the Syrian government authorized traders to import commodities from Saudi Arabia, including sugar and petrochemicals. Such measures are critical to bypass Western sanctions which have stifled growth and contributed to an economic meltdown.
It is clear that for Syria to move forward, an indigenous, regional and durable framework must take precedence in the Middle East with countries such as Saudi Arabia playing a key role. The visit by Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Farhan to Damascus augurs well for regional peace.
Hamzah Rifaat Hussain is a host for ThinkTech Hawaii.
