While the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad never managed to shake off his status as a pariah on the international scene, diplomatic delegations now visit Damascus every day to meet with the country’s new authorities, led by the Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). This Friday it was the turn of the first high-level delegation of members of the European Union, formed by the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, and her French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, who have expressed their hope that post-Syria -Assad respects women and minorities. During the visit to Damascus, the German minister made it clear: “We want to help, but we are not willing to contribute money to new Islamist structures.” And he added: “A peaceful chapter for Syria has to start from a dialogue between all ethnic and religious groups. Furthermore, the guarantee of women’s rights is very important,” according to the Efe agency.
Not only Western countries show renewed diplomatic interest in Syria: the new authorities in Damascus seek to renew ties in the region. Also this Friday, the new Syrian Foreign Minister, Asad al Shaibani, completed his first international trip in Riyadh, a sign that Saudi Arabia wants to play an influential role in the country.
After landing early in the morning in Damascus, the first stop on Baerbock and Barrot’s Syrian journey in Syria was the Saidnaya prison, converted into a symbol of the atrocities of the Assad regime and which Amnesty International has described as “a human slaughterhouse.” In the afternoon, the two ministers met with the country’s new strongman, Ahmed al Shara, formerly known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohamed al Julani.
“My trip today, together with my counterpart from France and on behalf of the EU, is a clear signal to Syrians. A new beginning between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria, is possible,” Baerbock, who also met with representatives of Syrian civil society, declared in a statement. “We know where HTS comes from ideologically and what it has done in the past, but we also hear and see the desire for moderation and understanding with other important actors,” the note added, referring to the links until 2017 of the Islamist militia with the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda.
For his part, in a meeting with journalists, Barrot expressed his hope that the new political time will translate into a “sovereign, stable and peaceful” Syria, and in which “the aspirations of all Syrians can be realized.” However, he warned that “it is a fragile hope.” The head of French diplomacy also met with the highest representatives of several Syrian Christian churches.
A couple of weeks ago, the head of the Middle East at the US State Department, Barbara Leaf, had also traveled to Damascus, where she met with Al Shara. The establishment of good relations with Western countries is a priority for the new authorities in Damascus, who have requested the lifting of the economic sanctions imposed on Assad and which weigh on a country in ruins after more than 13 years of war and which will need of an enormous volume of aid for its reconstruction.
European and American leaders have previously demanded solid evidence that the new government will be inclusive, representative and respect the rights of minorities. This last condition awakens susceptibility in Syria due to the French colonial past.
“I’m sorry, but making the protection of minorities a condition is colonial behavior. It was already a pretext to intervene in the East,” says writer Yasin Haj Salej, recently returned to Syria after a decade of exile spent between Istanbul and Berlin. “Aid should come without conditions, and that is the best way to create an inclusive system,” adds one of the most prominent Syrian intellectuals.
While several chancelleries welcome the interim government, concern is growing among a part of Syrian society about a series of measures that they associate with an attempt to Islamize the country. Dozens of people gathered on Friday in front of the Ministry of Education to protest the changes announced a day earlier in primary school textbooks that, in addition to eliminating indoctrination regarding the figure of El Assad, impose more religious language.
“This is an interim government, so it has a mandate to make all these changes, which are in a very negative direction. It is worrying that Darwin’s theory of evolution is eliminated from books, and that secular people or Christians are being infidels,” denounces secular activist Ayham Wafte. After the controversy generated on the networks, the Ministry of Education has assured that the changes had not been approved, but that it is only a proposed amendment. “The Government lies, it has backed down only because of society’s reaction,” adds Wafte.
Saudi Arabia bet
Various countries in the region have also contributed to the diplomatic frenzy around Damascus. In addition to Turkey, for years supporting the rebel militias that have ended up expelling Assad, Saudi Arabia has made a clear commitment to establishing close ties with the new Government. While the Syrian Foreign Minister, Al Shaibani, led a visit to Riyadh on Friday of a delegation also made up of the Minister of Defense and the director of the intelligence services, a fourth plane with humanitarian aid from Riyadh landed in Syria. The Saudi Government announced earlier this week an “air bridge” of solidarity between both countries. Other monarchies of the Persian Gulf, led by Qatar, have also sent delegations and delivered humanitarian aid.
Good relations with the Gulf countries are especially important for the new ruling elite in Damascus, especially because of the gasoline shortage that the country is suffering from, which, for the moment, has been supplied thanks to smuggling from Lebanon. Iran, along with Russia, the great pillar of support for the old regime, has cut off all oil exports to Syria since December 8.
Tehran, the big loser from the fall of Assad on the geopolitical chessboard, provided up to 90% of the crude oil consumed by the Arab country. Precisely, occupying the space left by Russia and Iran, and preventing Turkey, a non-Arab country, from doing so, explains the eagerness of the Gulf countries to establish relations with the interim government. At the beginning of the civil war in Syria, the Gulf monarchies supported the rebel militias against Assad with the purpose of putting an end to the influence of Iran, their great regional adversary, in Damascus. However, in recent years they had changed their strategy and began a process of normalizing relations with Assad.
In contrast, two countries in the region, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have exhibited a much more lukewarm attitude toward the new Syrian rulers. None of these countries, very hostile to Islamist ideology, has yet sent an emissary to Damascus. Israel is a separate chapter, as it has carried out hundreds of bombings on Syria in recent weeks; the last one, on Thursday night in the vicinity of Aleppo.
