By: Hassan Aziz
The Crown Prince of the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Supreme Commander of United Arab Emirates Armed Forces took to Twitter some days ago and said that he discussed with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on a phone call, the updates of coronavirus and assured him that UAE stands by Syria. In addition to this, the Prince said: “humanitarian solidarity during trying times supersedes all matters, and Syria and her people will not stand alone”. UAE and Qatar played a vital part in destabilizing Syria and tried their best to change the regime during the US-backed Arab spring in 2011 through their paid mercenaries as well as political and diplomatic pressure. UAE fully supported financially and militarily, the Kurdish led free Syrian Army during the Syrian civil war. Moreover, Emarati Government fully endorsed the decision of the Arab League to suspend the membership of Syria, back in November 2011. However, a great schism occurred between Qatar and Saudi Arabia several years later and this time UAE stood alongside Riyadh. The main dispute between both parties was Qatar’s role in backing and spreading the Muslim brotherhood ideology in the region. Qatar was also involved in installing their puppet governments in the various Middle Eastern states like Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Doha also tried to play the same game in Syria, which could have lead to greater influence in the Arabian geopolitical environment. It could also have provided a great opportunity for Turkey to safeguard its interests in the region as the latter has important strategic ties with the former.
Saudi Arabia and UAE lost their eagerness to topple Bashaar Al Assad in Syria since 2018 because Qatar and Turkey had an upper hand, especially after the defeat of ISIS in Syria. Most of the proxies lost their ruling areas to Assad’s Syrian Arab Army. So they had very little choice left than to manoeuvre their strategy and extend the hand of friendship towards President of Syria. Also, Turkish military involvement reminds Arabs of the Ottoman Era which spread through Syria. The tweet of Muhammad Bin Zayed is a part of the changed face of the power struggle in the Middle East. Earlier at the start of December 2019, Chargé d’affaires of UAE said that he hopes “security and stability prevail throughout the Syrian Arab Republic under the wise leadership of President Bashar Al-Assad and Syria-UAE relations are solid, distinct and strong,” according to the Reuters. In addition to that, last year UAE’s state minister for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash claimed in an interview that UAE supported a “united, capable, Arab Syria under a single sovereign authority.” UAE also reopened its embassy in Damascus, becoming the first Arab country to do so, except Oman which held a neutral position during the whole conflict.
UAE’s sharp U-turn in its policies can lead to fulfilling two major diplomatic objectives. Firstly, these tactics can create an effective anti-Turkish bloc. Turkey holds strong boots-on-ground military presence in Northern and North-Western Syria. They can offer President Bashar Al-Assad to military support him to regain his areas which are presently under Erdogan’s influence. It can turn out to be a win-win situation for both regimes. Secondly, these political engagements can lead to the better strengthening of ties between UAE and Russia, which supports Syrian President since the very eruption of the Arab Spring. It can prove to be an excellent chance for Abu Dhabi to somehow balance its ties with the other military might than the United States.
So in the cards, we can expect a meeting between Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and UAE’s Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Muhammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan or even Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman. After these important political proceedings, we all can look up major reshuffles of alliances in the region and beyond as well.
The writer is a student of LLB at International Islamic University, Islamabad, he can be reached through twitter at @H_AzizPk.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Dayspring.