The loosening of the sanctions to Syria marks a new balance in the Middle East: Ankara approves, Moscow observes with nervousness
Distance between Washington and Damascus began. Friday, the United States loosened the sanctions to the Syrian regime. A move that, Saturday, Damascus herself called a “positive step”. Also on Saturday, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, welcomed the United States line.
Recall that, during his recent visit to Riad, Donald Trump had met the Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and then announced his intention to revoke the sanctions to his regime. It is interesting to emphasize that, last year, Al-Sharaa had demolished the Bashar al Assad government thanks to the fundamental support of Ankara.
At first, the Trump administration did not have the new Damascus regime well, above all because of the bonds of Al-Sharaa with the Muslim brotherhood and its Qaedist past. Then, in recent weeks, something has changed. Trump has improved his relations with Erdogan. The degel with Damascus must therefore be included in the wider picture of Washington’s relaxation against Ankara.
An ANKARA that, in turn, is acquiring more and more weight in the Ukrainian diplomatic process. And that, at the same time, is strengthening its relationships also with Riad. In fact, we must not neglect that the hereditary prince of Saudi Bin Salman (in presence) and Erdogan himself (by videoconference) also participated in the recent meeting between Trump and Al-Sharaa.
THE’Associated Press He had reported that Israel was contrary to the revocation of the sanctions in Damascus. On the other hand, it should also be stressed that, on the occasion of his stage in Riad, Trump had urged Saudi Arabia to enter the Abraham agreements. Moreover, the carrier with Syria, in the eyes of the American president, is functional to two objectives.
The first is to promote what he himself has called a “golden age for the Middle East”: Trump, in other words, aims to stabilize the region in the convention that each actor, to obtain something, must renounce something else. Secondly, the American president is keeping an eye on the Ukrainian crisis. The fall of Assad inflicted a hard blow to the Russian influence on Syria. Loving the penalties in Damascus, Trump therefore makes a favor to Erdogan, but certainly not to Vladimir Putin. It is therefore possible to hypothesize that the tenant of the White House wanted to press the Kremlin in the Middle East precisely to push him to soften his position on the Ukrainian question.
