Experts on al-Shar'a: "He must convince the Arabs that he is not a puppet of Turkey"

Syrian President Ahmed al-Shar'a made his first foreign visit not to Turkey, which is said to be his main patron, but to Saudi Arabia. At the same time, he flew directly from Riyadh to Ankara. What do these visits portend about the foreign policy of the new government in Damascus? What was discussed during the visits? Analysts Kamoliddin Rabbimov and Shavkat Ikramov expressed their views on these questions in the "Geopolitics" program.

- Will Saudi Arabia persuade the US to lift sanctions on Syria?

Shavkat Ikramov:
- When a government headed by Ahmed al-Shar'a was established in Syria on December 8 last year, representatives of leading countries tried to meet with this government in the first weeks and determine what the next stage of relations would be. At the same time, Syria itself was also in the process of adapting to the new order and forming a foreign and domestic policy that would be different from the Assad regime. At this point, the main attention is no longer focused on Iran or Russia, but on the Gulf Arab states, Turkey and the West in general, the United States and even Israel. As a demonstration of this, the Turkish Foreign Minister, the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, and the head of the Qatari government were the first foreign delegations to receive the new government.

In general, for Ahmed al-Shar'a, Saudi Arabia is a stranger No. He was born in Saudi Arabia, spent his childhood in Saudi Arabia. He has had constant contacts with Saudi Arabia. It is noteworthy that his first interview was not given to the Western press or Al Jazeera, but to Al Arabiya, a Saudi-owned channel. In this interview, he focused on Saudi Arabia, stating that he wanted to see this country as his main partner in the region, along with Turkey, on an equal footing.

No major agreements or large-scale financial agreements were signed during his visit to Saudi Arabia that would mark a turning point between the two sides. However, experts say that one promise was made during the Saudi Foreign Minister's visit to Syria: the sanctions imposed on Syria by the international community should now be considered illogical and unjust. Saudi Arabia will act as a mediator in lifting these sanctions and will try to persuade the international community to do so.

Kamoliddin Rabbimov:
— In my opinion, Ahmed al-Shar'a informed Turkey before going to Saudi Arabia, that is, there was a certain agreement with Turkey. But he must have said that he would go to Turkey without any breaks in between, he went directly from Saudi Arabia to Turkey, without any stops in between.

The fact that the first visit was to Riyadh can be explained in four ways.

First, Saudi Arabia is still the leader of the Arab and Muslim world. There are Mecca and Medina there, there is a religious capital with a very big history.

So, going to Saudi Arabia, first of all, it is necessary to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, which is considered the leader of the Arab and Muslim world. Because if the Saudi elite strongly disagrees, it may start to use its vetoes.

Secondly, one of the countries in the Arab and Muslim world closest to America in the region is Saudi Arabia. On the issue of Syria, Saudi Arabia can play the role of a mediator with the US. The new Syrian government will certainly send a message to Saudi Arabia: “We will be friends with you, but tell Washington to lift these sanctions and include us in the international community.”

Thirdly, Saudi Arabia has a layer of scholars who shape the religious views of the Arab and Muslim world. So, since Ahmed al-Shar’a is one of the political leaders who has been criticized as a radical from the jihadist Tahrir Hayat al-Sham, his religious views now need to be legitimized. It is precisely Saudi scholars who can best provide the status of “he is not a radical, he is a normal boy, you can talk to him, he does not have a radical interpretation of Islam, he is a moderate Muslim.”

Fourth direction, Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the region. Al-Shar’a will need hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild a country destroyed in a civil war. Such big money is available primarily in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. Syria is forced to have good relations with all three of them.

First, a visit to an Arab state is also necessary to create an image for Al-Shar'a that it is "not a puppet of Turkey." If Arab countries, which previously viewed Syria as a puppet of Iran, now view it as a puppet of Turkey, they may maintain cold relations with Damascus. This is not in Syria's long-term interests.

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