Will the Saudis change their view of Syria?

The most important events in recent days in this regard were the visit of the UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Damascus last Tuesday, and his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as the presentation of the invitation of Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi from Assad to travel to the UAE.

Abdullah bin Zayed, who was the main signatory of the compromise agreement with the Zionist regime on behalf of the former UAE Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 16, 2016, was appointed by the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, Khalifa Shaheen, and A number of others accompanied.

The Emirati delegation is the first high-ranking diplomatic delegation to travel to Damascus during the nearly 11-year-old Syrian crisis. Experts on regional issues believe that Abu Dhabi must coordinate with Riyadh on an important issue such as Syria, and that this trip was coordinated by the Saudis.

Syrian sources on the issues raised at the meeting said that in this meeting, bilateral relations, development of cooperation in various and common fields and increasing efforts to discover new horizons of this cooperation, especially in important sectors to increase investment in these sectors will be discussed. it placed.

The meeting also reviewed the situation in the Arab and regional countries and Syria, and agreed to continue consultations and coordination on various issues and challenges facing the Arabs in order to achieve the demands of the people of the region and their will away from any foreign interference.

Following this important meeting, the news of the meeting of senior Syrian and Saudi intelligence officials in Cairo was published two days ago.

Egyptian sources say a meeting took place in Egypt between Hussam Luka, director of the Syrian Public Intelligence Service, and Khaled al-Hamidan, head of the Saudi intelligence service.

According to these sources, Luka and Al-Hamidan met on the sidelines of the “Arab Intelligence Conference” in Cairo.

According to the report, the conference was held in Cairo on November 9th (November 18th) and was attended by the heads of the intelligence services of several Arab countries, including Syria and Saudi Arabia, during which various cases in the region and the world were examined.

Although news sources did not provide further details on the meeting between Luka and al-Hamidan, experts on regional issues see the meeting as promising, given the close proximity of Damascus and Riyadh to security issues, perhaps the issue of Al Saud supporting terrorists in Syria’s 11-year war. It should also be adjusted and the Riyadh-Damascus relationship should slowly return to its pre-Syrian state.

The meeting between Luke and al-Hamidan was not the first meeting between the two security officials during the Syrian crisis; In 2015, Saudi and Syrian security officials met in two rounds, the first in Moscow, the capital of Russia, and the second in Riyadh.

In 2015, Maj. Gen. Ali Mamluk, head of the Syrian National Security Bureau, traveled to Riyadh with a senior Russian officer to attend the Saudi-Russian-Syrian security summit, a trip that did not yield tangible results and prevented Al Saud from fully supporting Remove terrorist groups in Syria.

In May of this year, some media outlets reported that a Saudi delegation led by Saudi intelligence chief Khaled al-Hamidan had traveled to Damascus to meet with President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian Vice President Ali al-Mamluk, Saudi sources said. At the same time, they did not approve the meeting, but the media and news sources emphasized the visit.

In addition to security meetings between Riyadh and Damascus officials, the two sides also sought to bring each other closer through the development of tourism between Saudi Arabia and Syria.

The first official visit of the Syrian Minister of Tourism to Saudi Arabia after the beginning of the Syrian crisis (in March 2011) dates back to May 25, 1400, at the invitation of his Saudi counterpart to attend a meeting of the World Tourism Organization. Returns.

During that visit, Syrian Tourism Minister Mohamed Rami Martini took part in the 47th meeting of the Committee on Tourism in the Middle East on May 26 and 27 (May 6 and 7).

The Syrian minister arrived in Riyadh at the invitation of the Saudi Ministry of Tourism and the World Tourism Organization Committee on the Middle East, and this was the first visit of a Syrian official to Saudi Arabia as a minister since the start of the war in Syria in 2011.

At the same time, there were media reports about the possibility of starting relations between Riyadh and Damascus, while the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced at the same time that the published reports on the country’s relations with Syria were inaccurate.

Raed Qarmali, director of the Saudi Foreign Ministry’s policy planning department, said at the time that media reports about the Saudi intelligence chief’s talks in Damascus were inaccurate. Saudi Arabia’s policy toward Syria remains firm and “emphasizes support for its people (or, more accurately, support for terrorist groups) and a political solution under UN supervision and in accordance with Security Council resolutions and the preservation of Syrian Arab unity and identity.”

The London-based Rai Al-Youm newspaper reported in May that a Saudi delegation led by Saudi intelligence chief Khalid al-Hamidan had traveled to Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and national security chief Ali Mamluk. Met.

The two sides agreed to reopen the Saudi embassy in Damascus as a first step in resuming relations, the newspaper reported.

There was no official response from Saudi Arabia or Syria, but Ali Abdul Karim, Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon at the time, called Saudi Arabia a “brotherly and beloved country” and said he had met with a number of Diplomats and follow-ups and statements predict that the Saudi brothers are reviewing relations, which he hopes will not last long.

He added that Syria welcomes any plan that is responsibly reviewed and any step that benefits Arab-Arab relations.

It was Syrian diplomatic sources in late May who, in response to the news, stressed that the meetings were fruitful and would likely thaw relations between the two countries.

Abdul Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of Rai Al-Youm, confirmed the reports in an interview with the Lebanese network Al-Jadeed in May, saying that the Saudi embassy in Damascus would probably be officially opened after Eid al-Fitr. The presence of Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud will be present, something that has not been done in a few months.

At the same time, Atwan linked the opening of Saudi-Syrian relations to a meeting between Saudi and Iranian officials in Iraq, stressing that the two sides’ views were closer and paved the way for the return of Saudi-Syrian relations.

But that is one side of the issue, as Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said in recent days that his country is not currently considering engaging with the Syrian president and establishing relations with the country.

Asked if Saudi Arabia, like some (Arab) governments that have reconnected with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was considering contacting him, the Saudi foreign minister said in an interview with CNBC. Or not, he said, Saudi Arabia is not thinking about it at the moment.

However, he added that Riyadh supports the political process between the Syrian government and the opposition, which is taking place in Geneva under the auspices of the United Nations, and calls for the security of the country and for what is in the interests of the Syrian people.

Experts in the region believe that the important point here is that Riyadh thinks that it has lost the rhyme to Iran in three countries, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, and that the visit of the highest Saudi security official to Syria, as well as their recent visit to Cairo. This is because “Mohammad bin Salman” does not like to lose the rhyme in Syria to Iran and surrender to Tehran.

Political and military analysts in the region see the heavy defeat of the Saudi-led Arab-American aggression coalition on the Marb and Al-Hudaidah fronts in Yemen as the Saudis tend to establish ties with Damascus, and believe that Riyadh wants to get out of the self-made quagmire. It is also in Yemen.

Observers in the region believe that while Saudi Arabia has inflicted heavy losses on the country by supporting terrorist groups during the unrest in Syria, recent Saudi actions in the region indicate possible changes in the country’s foreign policy, according to published reports. In recent times, the country has sought to redefine and reassess its regional approach as well as its relations with its neighbors. This Saudi approach is quite evident in recent meetings between Saudi officials and Syrian government officials.