Damascus has been disappointed following recent political, military, and economic developments, including an Arab decision to freeze the process of normalization with the Syrian regime and a US announcement that it was not in a pressure to withdraw American troops from eastern Syria.
Instead, Western states and Washington rely on “strategic patience” to obtain concessions from Moscow and Damascus on several issues, according to diplomats who lately visited the Syrian capital.
“It remains clear that the bilateral or collective normalization of relations between any Arab country and the Syrian regime has currently stopped. The return of Damascus to the Arab League would not happen by the next Arab League summit on March 31 in Tunis,” diplomats told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The diplomats added that some Arab states that had started resuming contacts with the regime of Bashar Assad have also restrained such efforts.
They said the last visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the Gulf showed that leading Arab states linked resuming relations with the Syrian regime to a political solution based on UNSCR 2254.
According to the same sources, the Syrian frustration was aggravated by the decision of US President Donald Trump to keep 400 American troops in east Syria and in the Tanf base, with Washington exerting pressure on European states to send peacekeeping forces to the east of the country.
Also, the continuous European and US economic sanctions on Syria and the deterioration of the living conditions in Damascus and government-controlled areas have contributed to increased disappointment, the diplomats said.
