Enab Baladi – Hussam al-Mahmoud

The Syrian transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, participated on March 5th in the emergency Arab summit hosted in Cairo, titled “Palestine Summit” to discuss developments in the Palestinian issue.

This participation marked al-Sharaa’s first attendance at an Arab summit since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and his assumption of the presidency, making this participation a subject of Arab interest. It gathered the Syrian president with leaders he had not previously met, with most communications with Damascus remaining non-presidential bilateral meetings, except for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan, with which al-Sharaa held meetings and visited two of them.

On the sidelines of the summit, al-Sharaa held meetings and discussions with Arab and foreign officials, including the President of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, the Palestinian Authority President, the Lebanese President, and the Egyptian President.

He also held a meeting with the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in the presence of the Syrian Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shibani, who accompanied al-Sharaa during this participation.

During the summit, the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the chairperson of the current Arab summit, welcomed al-Sharaa’s presence as President of the Syrian Arab Republic. Al-Sharaa delivered an eight-minute speech, praising Syria’s return to the Arab League after years of absence (in reference to the Arab League granting the seat to the opposition in Syria in 2013).

Arab foreign ministers suspended the membership of Assad’s regime in the Arab League during an emergency meeting held in Cairo in November 2011, following months of popular protests in Syria calling for the regime’s downfall.

The Syrian seat remained vacant in the Arab League since the membership freeze until March 2013 when it was granted to the opposition during the Arab summit held in Doha, at which time the head of the Syrian National Coalition, Ahmad Muaz al-Khatib, delivered a speech on its behalf for the first time.

After the suspension decision was issued with the approval of 18 Arab countries, while Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen opposed it, economic and political sanctions were announced against Assad’s regime.

Following efforts from some Arab countries, such as Algeria and Iraq, and opposition from other Arab states like Qatar and Kuwait, Bashar al-Assad participated in the Jeddah summit in May 2023, and then in two exceptional Arab Islamic summits in Riyadh concerning the Gaza war, and in a regular Arab summit in Manama in May 2024.

A call to pressure Israel

The Syrian president stated that participation in the Arab summit reaffirms Syria’s support for just Arab causes and its pursuit of stability in the region. He stressed the right of Palestinians to remain in Gaza and rejected displacement, urging Arab countries to shoulder their responsibility in supporting Syria to combat Israeli policies and pressuring them to withdraw from southern Syria (in reference to the ground incursions carried out by Israel in southern Syria after the fall of Assad’s regime, which continues to this day).

He said, “Neglecting to confront the Israeli occupation may open the doors to further challenges and threats to Arab national security,” stressing the necessity for Arab countries to take responsibility in supporting Syria and uniting their efforts to combat these aggressive policies that seek only to sow discord and turmoil in the region, according to the Syrian president.

Al-Sharaa mentioned that since Israel’s occupation of the Syrian Golan in 1967, it has never stopped violating the rights of the Syrian people, rather it has worked to ignore international agreements in this context, escalated its military attacks, and increased settlements on Syrian territory. He considered that the continuous Israeli aggression, along with military attacks targeting the security and stability of Syria, requires everyone to stand united against this escalation.

The Syrian president emphasized Syria’s adherence to the 1974 agreement regarding the separation of forces reached under the UN’s auspices. He added, “We urge the international community to fulfill its legal and moral obligations in supporting Syrian rights and pressing Israel for an immediate withdrawal from southern Syria. It is also essential to put an end to the policies of the Israeli occupation that threaten regional security and stability, and practical measures should be taken to stop these ongoing aggressions.”

Messages delivered

Strategic expert and non-resident researcher at the Stimson Institute in Washington, Amer al-Sabaileh, explained to Enab Baladi that there is no need to search for an Arab will to recognize al-Sharaa. Previous visits made by al-Sharaa to some countries showed him being received as a legitimate president. Arab countries today want to deal with al-Sharaa as a de facto president, as some see the necessity to engage with him to fill the vacuum.

According to al-Sabaileh, this Arab desire formed before the coastal events in Syria, and if such events were to recur, al-Sharaa might face crises in the future and may not represent a solution in Syria.

The strategic expert considered that the mere invitation extended to al-Sharaa reflects Arab acceptance, even though it is currently impossible to treat him as the president of Syria as part of the Arab decision. The current situation makes him a marginal president and not part of the issues that Arabs discuss in the emergency summit.

In a reference to al-Sharaa being distanced in the collective photo of representatives of the participating Arab states, unlike how Bashar al-Assad stood in his recent participations in the Jeddah and Manama summits, al-Sabaileh explained that this indicates that although al-Sharaa is recognized as a president, he is not a legally solid president of a strong state, especially since he is the president of the transitional phase in Syria.

The Arab summit concluded with a final statement consisting of 22 points, in which Syria was present in 21 of them. This included condemnation of the Israeli aggressions against Syria and incursions into its territory, considered a blatant violation of international law and an aggression against Syria’s sovereignty, and a significant escalation that increases tension and conflict, urging the international community and the Security Council to take immediate action to implement international law and compel Israel to halt its aggression and withdraw from the occupied Syrian territories, which is a clear violation of the 1974 ceasefire agreement, reiterating that the Golan Heights is occupied Syrian land and rejecting Israel’s decision to annex it and impose its sovereignty over it.

Egypt is the third Arab destination for al-Sharaa after Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and the fourth internationally after Turkey as well. The Syrian president is expected to make a visit to France soon to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. Additionally, the closing statement of the international conference regarding Syria in Paris last February, as well as the statement from the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting on March 7, and the meetings in Riyadh regarding Syria on January 12, all confirmed support for a political transitional process represented by Syrian political and social forces, safeguarding the rights of Syrians, and including various components of the Syrian people.