Washington/New York – The US warned that Arab League made a serious strategic mistake by reinstating the Assad regime in Syria. The US further said this would encourage the Assad regime, Russia and Iran to continue killing civilians and destabilising the Gulf. The differences between the US Biden administration and the Arab countries have again become public due to this.
For the past few days, Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, and Iraq have increased their activities to establish new relations with the Assad regime in Syria. A meeting of representatives of major Arab countries with Syria was also held in Amman, the capital of Jordan. The next few hours later, the Arab League announced that Syria had been re-admitted to the organisation. Syria, as well as Iran, welcomed this declaration of the Arab League. But the US has reprimanded this decision of the Arab League.
‘We do not believe that Syria merits readmission to the Arab League at this time. We continue to believe that we will not normalise our relations with the Assad regime, and we don’t support our allies and partners doing so either,’ said Vedant Patel, the State Department spokesperson. Michael McCaul, Chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, has issued a stern warning to Arab countries.
McCaul warned that the Arab League had made a grave policy mistake by re-admitting Syria to the organisation. At the same time, it has made no difference to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. McCaul alleged that the Assad regime was still oppressing the Syrian people. But President Assad will soon be punished for his wrongdoing, McCaul warned.
There has already been talk of a rift between the US and Arab allies. Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies seem to have hurt the US by including Syria in the Arab League, even after this. Even so, the US claims it has no differences from the Arab countries. Patel said that the US and the Arab partner countries were still working towards the same goals regarding Syria. But his statements about Syria deliver a different message.
Meanwhile, while the US reacts to Syria’s inclusion in the Arab League, the United Nations has lashed out at the Assad regime. The United Nations has claimed that Syria has still not done satisfactory work on 20 points regarding chemical weapons disposal. The United Nations and human rights organisations had accused the Assad regime of using chemical weapons against its opponents. The Assad regime had denied the allegations against it.
A special meeting begins in Russia to improve Turkey-Syria relations
Istanbul/Moscow – After the Arab League established cooperation with Syria, moves to improve relations between Turkey and Syria have been underway. A special meeting has been going on in Russia for this. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu participated in the meeting. Foreign Ministers of Iran and Syria will also participate in this ongoing meeting in Moscow.
In 2011, Turkey, a member of NATO, also participated in the conflict started by the US against the Assad regime in Syria. But in the later period, Turkey moved away from NATO and took up on anti-Assad regime activities.
Alleging that the Kurdish rebels in Syria threaten Turkish security, Turkey has pushed its army into northern Syria. Also, there were reports that Turkey had taken control of the fuel-rich places of the Kurds. Russia and Iran, which have friendly relations with the Assad regime in Syria, had implemented a ceasefire in Syria through tripartite talks with Turkey. But within a few months, Turkey broke the ceasefire and resumed attacks in Syria. Therefore, Turkey’s conflict with the Assad regime erupted in Syria. But political events in the Gulf have intensified over the past few weeks.
