Regional convergence in the shadow of changing equations and the defeat of the United States in Syria
According to IRNA, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar on Monday referred to the recent contacts between Syria and Jordan in a report and described it as a step towards the return of Damascus to the Arab League.
Referring to the intensive meetings of Jordanian and Syrian officials in recent weeks on economic, security and political issues, the daily wrote: It has finally reached the level of contact between the leaders of the two countries.
The daily added that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with Jordanian King Abdullah II yesterday to discuss bilateral relations, which took place after 10 years and is in fact a prelude to a closer meeting. It may lead to measures to return Damascus to the Arab League.
According to Al-Akhbar, since the Jordanian king’s visit to Washington last July and his subsequent visit to Moscow, Jordan has taken steps to normalize relations with its neighbor Syria. This change in Jordan’s approach is due to the current developments and the differences between the actors and the supporters of the war against Syria, and the imbalance of forces in Syria in favor of the axis of resistance.
The newspaper noted that the closeness of Jordanian-Syrian relations has certainly been due to tacit regional and Western decision-making.
According to Al-Akhbar, the administration of US President Joe Biden prefers to reduce its military presence in the region and deploy its forces away from areas of tension.
The newspaper noted that the public focus of Jordan and Syria will be on the economic issues of electricity, gas, transportation, water, reconstruction and return of Syrian refugees, and that a recent Syrian ministerial meeting with Jordanian Prime Minister Bashar al-Khasawaneh in Amman after Reopening of Jaber-Nasib joint border crossing for goods and passengers, resumption of round-trip flights of Jordanian airlines to Damascus, followed by Al-Khasawaoneh’s visit to Beirut at the head of a ministerial delegation and meeting with the President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament. His visit to Egypt to complete gas supplies to Lebanon via Jordan and Syria is also being evaluated in this regard.
According to Al-Akhbar, however, the security case will be discussed behind closed doors in the light of the complexities of the situation.
At the same time, Syrian and Emirati officials have held talks to activate the Syrian-UAE Chamber of Commerce, the newspaper added.
According to Al-Akhbar, the talks between the Syrian and UAE economy ministers took place yesterday on the sidelines of the “Expo 2020” summit in Dubai, and the two sides agreed to activate the council to encourage trade, investment and bilateral cooperation.
In this regard, Abbas Zaher, a prominent analyst in the Arab world, did not consider Jordan’s steps towards Syria to be accidental in his analytical report and wrote: Break a military. The Americans, meanwhile, have also identified a strategic priority to counter China’s global expansion, which is more serious and important than developments in the Middle East. The US move to leave Afghanistan is being evaluated in this direction.
The author then addresses the signs of a change in the regional equation in the wake of the US defeat in Syria and a shift in Washington’s priorities and withdrawal from Afghanistan, and contacts between the Arab Gulf states and Iran to end differences, reconciliation between the Arab Gulf states Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE with Qatar), resumption of Saudi-Turkish contacts, regional economic and political cooperation under the auspices of Jordan, redefining the positions of Arab countries towards Syria and the international approach to the gradual lifting of sanctions on this country, support between Assesses Iraq’s efforts to resolve regional issues, the talks on resolving the oil and gas dispute on the Lebanese-occupied Palestinian border, and Washington’s approach to the nuclear deal and efforts to open Arab-Lebanese relations with Lebanon. has done.
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