DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Heavy US sanctions against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad are undermining regional rapprochement efforts that could help resolve the Syrian conflict, the United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister said on Tuesday.
In a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart in Abu Dhabi, Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan called for “joint action with Syria” and said that the US economic pressure campaign “as it is today makes the matter difficult” . ‘
He further advocated for the reinstatement of war-torn Syria in the 22-member Arab League, noting that the government and private sector could ‘play a role’ in restoring Syria ‘to normal’ after years of devastating war.
Sheikh Abdullah’s remarks highlight shifting regional dynamics as the tenth anniversary of Syria’s civil war next week. The United Arab Emirates supported the Syrian opposition during the early years of the war.
But when the Syrian army recaptured most of the territory of the opposition, the UAE and other Arab countries opened up to Assad’s government. In 2018, the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus, for the first time since the start of an organized Arab diplomatic boycott in 2011.
Syria’s virtually complete isolation has increased since the Trump administration enacted legislation in 2019, known as the Caesar Syria Civil Protection Act. The sanctions, which US officials said were aimed at “holding the Assad regime accountable for atrocities it committed against its own people”, targeted Assad, his close circle of collaborators and family, senior security officials and troops, as well as the Central Bank institutions that allegedly played a role in the violence in the war in Syria.
Although Assad may have won the military war against his opponents with the support of Russia and Iran, he faces a greater challenge to govern while more than 80% of his people live in poverty.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not elaborate on the Syrian conflict at the press conference, except to say that Russia supported “a political settlement” there, as well as in the war-torn Libya and Yemen.
In Libya, the UAE and Russia provided military assistance to East-based Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter, while his forces fought against the UN-recognized government for control of the country’s capital last year.