The author is writer of ‘Black Wave’
When Saudi overseas minister Faisal bin Farhan landed in Damascus final week, the primary go to by a Saudi official since 2011, Bashar al-Assad’s evident glee was equalled solely by the angst and betrayal felt by tens of millions of Syrians. After being ostracised for over a decade, Assad has been making his manner again into well mannered firm. Prince Faisal isn’t the primary Arab minister to name on Assad, however his go to carried extra significance at a time when there’s discuss of readmitting Syria to the Arab League.
On Twitter and within the Arab media, commentators who often applaud Saudi insurance policies had been notably silent after Prince Faisal’s go to. It’s a tricky U-turn to promote. In 2012, on the Mates of Syria summit in Tunis, the Saudis pressed then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to arm the Syrian opposition. A senior Saudi official within the delegation advised me that Assad was an occupier and needed to be eliminated. The loss of life toll for Syrian rebels that yr stood at round 10,000.
Since then, at the least 500,000 Syrians have been killed, overwhelmingly by the regime and its allies, Iran and Russia. One other 135,000 have disappeared into Assad’s dungeons, and tens of millions had been displaced. Assad stays unchanged and exhibits no regret — why then are Arab ministers visiting Damascus? The reply is realpolitik: not solely has Assad survived, however he has precipitated issues that his neighbours can’t resolve with out him.
Arab officers say that within the brief time period they’re hoping to get Syrian co-operation on the protected return of refugees, presumably by a UN mechanism co-ordinated with the Arab League. In Jordan and Lebanon, tensions between Syrian refugees and host communities are rising.
One other key concern is the circulation of the artificial amphetamine drug generally known as Captagon from Syria into different Arab international locations, particularly Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Syria is now being described as a narco-state and its Captagon commerce is valued within the billions. Final yr, US Congress handed the Captagon Act, calling on Joe Biden’s administration to develop a technique to disrupt the drug commerce, a “transnational safety menace”. Overtures to Syria by the UAE then Jordan, which started over two years in the past, have to date yielded nothing. As a regional heavyweight, Saudi Arabia might need extra luck.
The White Home isn’t encouraging efforts to normalise Assad however neither is it forcefully opposing them. The US has been largely absent from latest Syria diplomacy efforts. This isn’t an indication that Assad can slide again formally onto the broader worldwide stage — the ethical price for the west can be too excessive. Years of sanctions and court docket instances within the US, France and Germany involving twin residents searching for justice additionally stand in Assad’s manner.
Germany has efficiently prosecuted a mid-level Syrian safety official for battle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity; he’s now serving a life sentence. Different architects of Assad’s brutal system of detention and torture — comparable to the dreaded safety chief and trusted Assad aide, Ali Mamlouk — are additionally topic to indictments.
Then there’s the Caesar Act, handed by the US Congress in 2019, which imposes wide-ranging sanctions on dozens of people and entities, together with non-Syrians and third events. In consequence, anybody hoping to do official enterprise in Syria will suppose twice.
Thus far, Assad has not been invited to the Arab League summit in Riyadh subsequent month. However even when he’s welcomed again into the fold, it’s value remembering that such visits didn’t save Sudan’s Omar Bashir — nor did it assist his nation. After the Worldwide Legal Court docket issued an arrest warrant for Bashir, he nonetheless attended Arab League summits, together with in Jordan in 2017 — despite the fact that Amman is a signatory to the ICC’s Rome Statute. Bashir even visited Assad in Damascus in 2018. However these had been the boundaries of his respectability.
Solely after Bashir was deposed was Sudan faraway from the US record of state sponsors of terrorism and slowly reintegrated into the broader worldwide group. However its transition to civilian rule erupted spectacularly earlier this month when Bashir’s former lieutenants-turned-peace negotiators who helped overthrow him went to battle with one another.
There isn’t any signal of one other rebellion in Syria, and no generals who look more likely to depose Assad and battle for management of the nation. But the lead-up to the disaster in Khartoum carries a lesson for these dignitaries beating a path to Damascus. Compromising with tyrants — whether or not they be sitting in a presidential palace or carrying fatigues — with out leverage, deterrence or accountability, is a recipe for tragic failure.
