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Nicosia (Cyprus): Despite the fact that he was the person mainly responsible for the deaths of more than half a million Syrians and the forced displacement of 12 million people. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was welcomed back last month to the Arab League and even given red-carpet treatment.
Surprisingly, Bashar al-Assad has not shown any willingness to make concessions or reciprocate or at least promise to facilitate the return of refugees to their homes without fear of persecution. Despite the condemnations of human rights groups, realpolitik has once again prevailed.
Western governments were not satisfied with the restoration the happiestRelations with other Arab countries He worried that it would undermine efforts to end the long-running Syrian civil war. So far, Western governments seem determined to keep their sanctions on the regime.
As a result of the brutal suppression of the uprising of the Syrian people 12 years ago, the regime of Bashar al-Assad became a pariah in the region and almost everyone believed that he would soon be overthrown, as many Arab governments at the time supported the rebels. .
However, thanks to the strong support that the regime received from Iran and Russia, it gradually became clear that Bashar al-Assad’s regime would not fall, and Arab governments gradually began to think about their interest in restoring him to the Arab ranks. And try to limit the strong influence that Iran plays in the affairs of Syria.
Moreover, they believed that by not keeping him an outcast, they might convince him to reduce the production and trafficking of the addictive drug Captagon, which has become extremely popular among young people in the Middle East and brings billions of dollars into the coffers of dollars. the system. Captagon is believed to be the biggest drug problem in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.
According to press reports, Syria pledged to crack down on smuggling and agreed to form a regional security coordination committee to combat the production and smuggling of Captagon, which had been weaponized by the Damascus regime.
Since Captagon is the main source of foreign exchange for Syria, it is unlikely that Assad will make a real effort to stop its production and smuggling, but it is expected that from time to time he will arrest some smugglers in return for receiving money from oil-rich Arab governments. for the reconstruction of Syria.
By welcoming Bashar al-Assad into the Arab ranks, Arab governments hope that al-Assad will eventually be persuaded to accept the return of the millions of refugees who fled their homeland fearing for their lives and trying to avoid repression.
Although several countries, such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, initially welcomed Syrian refugees, believing that Assad regime They will soon fall apart, now they want them to go home. Locals now see them as a threat as the refugees accept lower wages and deny them health and social services that would otherwise be available to them.
Lebanon and Turkey, two countries facing a serious economic crisis, recently forcibly deported Syrian refugees back to their countries.
In Turkey, the issue of returning refugees to Syria was one of the main issues of the recent presidential election campaign, and candidates Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu pledged to return all or most of the refugees.
At the Arab League summit in Jeddah, the jubilant Bashar al-Assad emerged victorious, as he saw that his persistence and brutality had borne fruit, as all the Arab leaders participating in the summit, with the exception of Qatar, welcomed him back to the Arab ranks. .
In his speech at the summit, Bashar al-Assad denounced Western domination and stressed the need to protect Arab identity. Ignoring the fact that he survived the uprising mainly because of the support he received from Iran and Russia, he said, “Arab countries should seize the opportunity to shape their own destiny without outside interference.”
It is noteworthy that the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria last February, leaving more than 56,000 dead, and the provision of much-needed humanitarian aid to the earthquake victims, gave Saudi Arabia an excuse to communicate directly with Assad.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has changed Saudi foreign policy and wants to withdraw from regional conflicts – particularly in Yemen – and reduce rivalry with Iran and Turkey. He wants to focus instead on the grand “Vision 2030”, which would make Saudi Arabia a global hub connecting Asia, Europe and Africa.
By bringing Syria back into the Arab fold, the Saudi crown prince removed one of the obstacles to his country’s efforts to significantly improve relations with the Iranian regime.
Russia must be very pleased with the rehabilitation of Assad because it sees Moscow’s decisive intervention in the Syrian conflict and its support for the Damascus regime as a major success in foreign policy.
The survival of Bashar al-Assad, despite the odds, and the fact that he has returned to the Arab fold, will allow Moscow to reduce its contribution to the stability of Syria, and it expects that the oil-rich Arab countries will now shoulder this burden. This will free up funds for use in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Iran should also be satisfied with the Arab League’s move, as it now expects that it will not need to spend a lot of money supporting Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Those who are clearly not satisfied with Assad’s rehabilitation are the Kurdish groups that have been fighting against his regime. They fear that this step may also signal the withdrawal of the remaining US forces from Syria and that the US administration will fail them again.
In conclusion, it can be said that Assad’s great success is that he was accepted to return to the Arab ranks without any serious commitments on his part, and especially without agreeing to accept the hundreds of thousands of refugees who were against his regime.



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