tayyar.org – Intensive Syrian-Arab encounters…and Assad to Saudi Arabia tomorrow

News: Alaa Halabi-

While the Syrian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad, continues its participation in the preparatory meetings for the Arab summit, Washington and its allies in the European Union are racing to disrupt the summit in which President Bashar al-Assad will participate.

This is being done through a series of moves, starting with the rush of Congress to pass a bill to combat normalization, and not ending with shuttle meetings and continuous meetings, aimed at increasing pressure on countries that have resumed their relations with Syria.

In a hurry, the Foreign Relations Committee in the US House of Representatives approved, the day before yesterday, a draft law on “anti-normalization” with the Syrian regime, which includes provisions that prevent Washington from resuming its relations with Damascus in light of the presence of the current government, in addition to a set of other provisions, most notably Expanding the scope of the “Caesar Act” and extending it for another eight years, until 2032. The draft law that was put forward by the “American Coalition for Syria” (which includes 9 organizations active in Washington, D.C., and run by Americans of Syrian origin) in cooperation with representatives from both the Democratic and Republican parties After obtaining the approval of the Foreign Relations Committee, it is sent to the House of Representatives for a vote, and then, if approved, it is passed to the Senate for ratification, and finally to the office of President Joe Biden to sign it and become effective.

According to a statement by the “coalition”, negotiations took place between the Democratic and Republican parties, to reach a formula of understanding “that would broaden the base of support for the bill in Congress, and it continued until late at night during the past four days, without stopping even on the weekend.” .

And he continued, “The two parties (Republican and Democratic), and with the frantic efforts of our organizations, decided to send a firm message to the printers prior to the Arab summit, so the project was granted with great speed,” noting that the speed given to the decision “is a rare occurrence.”

While the project was supposed to go a long way (to scrutinize it and study its draft) before it was put to a vote, however, the convening of the Arab summit in Jeddah prompted the US House of Representatives to accelerate its pace, in light of Washington’s desire to obstruct the wave of normalization with Damascus.

However, what happened aroused the ire of some members of Congress, and demands rose to withdraw it from the vote, in order to complete the usual protocol procedures, such as publishing the draft on the Congress website, studying it in more depth, and introducing amendments to its text, which means that the bill is still in the stage of being a draft draft. , despite the start of the vote on it.

In this regard, a Syrian opposition source familiar with the stages of preparation for the “anti-normalization” bill indicated, in an interview with Al-Akhbar, that “everyone knows that what happened was only a first stage, but this stage was deliberately accelerated to anticipate the summit.” Arab countries, in the context of continuous American and Western efforts to obstruct opening up to Damascus,” considering that “the Congress wanted to send a message to the countries printing with Damascus before the summit.”

The Syrian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad, is continuing its participation in the preparations for the Arab summit

In parallel, the European Union organized a meeting that brought together members of the Syrian opposition “Negotiations Committee” with representatives of the countries supporting it in Geneva, under the title “Accountability in Syria,” aimed at “unifying efforts to confront the wave of normalization with Damascus.”

Representatives from the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Turkey participated in the meeting, who reaffirmed their countries’ positions rejecting normalization.

The Deputy Permanent Representative of the Turkish Mission in Geneva, Arzu Ercelik, said that her country “will continue its contribution to the efforts of the United Nations and the international community,” and that “progress on the political, security and humanitarian tracks is urgently required.”

Likewise, German Foreign Minister Analina Berbock, who is visiting the Gulf region, discussed the Syrian file with her Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan, in Jeddah, reiterating her country’s position refusing normalization with Damascus. Berbock also met her Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, in Doha, who confirmed, in turn, his country’s refusal to normalize relations with Syria.

And he considered that “the issue is not between us and the Syrian regime,” pointing out, at the same time, that “there is coordination between the countries of the Cooperation Council, in addition to Egypt, the Kingdom of Jordan and Iraq, and positions differed, not about the goals, but about the methodology to reach these goals, and this is a natural thing.” However, we support that there be constructive work to achieve these goals, and that any normalization step with the regime contribute to achieving such a goal. He believed that “the only solution to Qatar’s normalization with the Syrian regime is to find a just and comprehensive solution to the issue in Syria.”

At this time, the Syrian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad, is continuing its participation in the preparations for the Arab summit, which includes several files, most notably the Palestinian, Syrian and Sudanese. The delegation held a series of meetings with its counterparts from Egypt, the Emirates, Algeria, Jordan, Somalia, Oman, Iraq, Tunisia, Lebanon, and others, in addition to meetings with Arab officials and delegates, including the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, amid welcoming the Syrian return, which will culminate in the participation of President Bashar al-Assad, according to the statement. Al-Miqdad confirmed.