Bin Zayed’s call with Al-Assad is not something ordinary

Written by Nasser Kandil,
The news of the Emirati opening up to Syria from the gate of the resumption of the work of the Emirati embassy in Damascus is not new, as the presence of communications at the high-level between the officials of the two countries. As it is not new the old friendship between the leaders of the two countries which despite the crisis it remained witness an exchange of indirect messages of keenness and hope to overcome the ordeal. According to the followers-up it is not new the situation of the Gulf relationships with Syria along with the hope to achieve a higher official relationship but this implies Gulf recognition, where the UAE forms its most advanced, courageous, and initiator. A recognition that the bet on the war on Syria has ended and that Syrian country has won, and that the ongoing terrorism and the Turkish threat is still a source of common danger that Syria is facing on behalf of all Arabs.
But the level of communication, the content of Emirati announcement and their implications are the new things. The first meaning is that the elements of obstruction regarding the level of communication have been overcome as the US veto on one hand and the Saudi hesitation on the other hand, because both of them are related directly with the Syrian relationship with Iran and the resistance forces. The bet on delaying the openness to Syria will allow more pressure to change positions, but it is known that the status of Al Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed the Crown Prince of UAE in both of Washington and Riyadh allows to say that he won the bet by calling America and Saudi Arabia to abandon this track because first, it does not make any sense. Second, because time passes quickly contrary to the interest of Washington and Riyadh and their allies because if they are still betting on isolating Syria then they isolate the Arab rulers supported by the west and America at the forefront from opportunities that Syria can perform alone especially in the time of the decline of the wars opportunities after the harshest of which was in Yemen and the availability of settlements as shown in the understandings between Afghanistan and Taliban. Third, because the variables caused by Corona virus on the international relationships allow that change starting from Syria and on.
The Emirati announcement of such a call and with such a level of language that included solidarity with Syria, its people and its president forms a major political message of the end of a phase and the start of another phase not only in the Emirati-Syrian relationships, the Gulf-Syrian relationships, the Arab and Western relationships with Syria but also at the level of the region. Syria is a part of an axis and an alliance, it is the pillar of the resistance axis where Hezbollah forms its weapon and Iran its strategic depth, it is a partner and ally of Russia beyond the war on terrorism, but within a common vision of a new regional political geography of the stability making, which means the conditions for the change of policy towards Syria have become ready. The UAE has relationships with both Iran and Russia that paved the way for the phase of opening up to Syria.
A new stage in the region initiated by the call of Al Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed with the President Bashar Al-Assad. Its title is the diplomacy of corona not in the region but in the whole world as shown in the American-Chinese call.
Translated by Lina Shehadeh,