Syria expected to gain readmission to Arab League on Saudi recommendation
Representatives of the Arab League will assemble today in Cairo for a regularly scheduled meeting.
Discussions will centre on readmitting Syria to the international organisation. Syria was booted seven years ago after the Bashar al-Assad regime violently cracked down on protestors. Now with victory in sight for the Syrian president, the League appears ready to acknowledge the regime’s maintenance of power as a fait accompli.
All eyes will be on whether or not Saudi Arabia—the region’s main financial and military benefactor and the arch-nemesis of Iran—supports reinstating Syria. With international and domestic support for Saudi Arabia’s proxy war against Iran in Yemen waning, the Crown Prince and his ministers may justify an acceptance of the Syrian reality as a substantial, new policy shift rejecting covert intervention in future conflicts in the Arab world. On the other hand, the Saudis might also see their setbacks in Yemen as reason to double down on their anti-Iran stance in Syria.
The determining factor of which direction Saudi Arabia travels will depend on the domestic willingness and international pressure against the government to sustain its present funding and military support to anti-Iran rebel forces.
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