Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmanaud
Saudi Arabia has informed other Arab states that it sees no obstacles to reinstating Syria’s membership in the Arab League, the al-Mayadeen TV reported on December 28 citing a diplomatic source.
Syria’s membership in the Arab League was suspended on 16 November 2011 following the failure of the Arab initiative for peace in Syria. Back then, the league claimed that the Damascus government didn’t respect the initiative.
The diplomatic source’s statement comes in line with a recent report of the Guardian, in which the UK-based newspaper said that Saudi Arabia and Egypt are leading efforts to restore Syria’s membership in the Arab League.
The Guardian’s report also said that Washington is pressuring Riyadh and Cairo to hold off on their plan. This information was confirmed by al-Mayadeen. The Lebanese TV said that pressure from the U.S. prevented Egyptian officials from visiting Syria to discuss the plan. As a result, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir carried out the mission and flew to Damascus earlier this month.
Washington’s attempts to isolate Damascus appear to be heading to a failure. In the last 48 hours, both the UAE and Bahrain reopened their embassies in the Syrian capital.
Despite its efforts to restore Syria’s membership in the Arab League, Saudi Arabia will not likely follow the footsteps of the UAE and Bahrain and resume relations with Damascus any time soon. The kingdom will likely take such a step after the withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria in order to avoid any further pressure from the U.S.
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