Jordan to host Arab regional discussion on way forward with Syria

AMMAN, Jordan — Arab foreign ministers will gather in Jordan on Monday to discuss Syria’s long-running conflict and ending Damascus’s diplomatic isolation in the region, the Foreign Ministry in Amman said.

Syria’s President Bashar Assad has been politically isolated since the conflict in his country began in 2011.

However, recent weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity after Saudi Arabia and Iran — a close ally of Damascus — resumed diplomatic ties in March, shifting regional relations.

Monday’s meeting in Amman will bring together foreign ministers from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

The talks will “take stock of the contacts of these countries with the Syrian government to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis,” a Foreign Ministry statement said Sunday.

It called the gathering “a continuation of the consultative meeting of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt, which was hosted by Saudi Arabia” in mid-April.

That meeting saw nine Arab states meet in Jeddah to discuss ending Syria’s long spell in the diplomatic wilderness and its possible return to the 22-member Arab League after Damascus was suspended in 2011.

The diplomats stressed the “importance of having an Arab leadership role in efforts to end the crisis” in Syria, a statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.

The summit is the coming-out party for an effort that has been underway for the last six months to bring Syria back into the Arab fold and away from Iran, said Moran Zaga, Gulf expert at Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies.

The effort has been led by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

“This is extremely important for the agenda of the region,” she told The Times of Israel. “A return of Arab-ness to the region, of Arab solidarity, at the expense of Iranian and Russian influence.”

The United Arab Emirates re-established ties with Damascus in late 2018. April also saw Syria and Tunisia announce they would reopen diplomatic missions in their respective capitals.

Regional opponents to Damascus’s reintegration remain, however. Qatar, which has supported Syrian rebel groups, called the idea of Syria returning to the Arab League mere “speculation.”

The 12-year war in Syria has claimed around half a million lives and nearly half of its population are now refugees or internally displaced.

Swaths of territory still remain outside government control.

Assad is hoping full normalization of ties with the wealthy Gulf monarchies will help to finance the reconstruction of the country’s war-ravaged infrastructure.