On the verge of ending 12 years of a long forgotten war – which began on March 15, 2011 – the earthquakes have put Syria back in the spotlight of the international community and led several countries to maintain their first contacts with the repudiated government of Bashar al Asad for more than a decade.
The recent tragedy has served as the catalyst for a series of telegrams of condolences, promises of assistance and phone calls as implausible as the one Egyptian President Abdelfatah al-Sisi sent to Assad, the first of his nine years in power. .
Although Egypt is not among the fierce enemies that Damascus has created for itself in the Arab world with its suppression of riots and its subsequent management of the armed conflict, solidarity “with the Syrian people” transferred from top president to top president represents an important step.
At least the earthquakes prompted several nations in the Muslim world to re-adhere to diplomatic protocols they had denied Syria in recent years, a move the UAE could have laid the groundwork for.
Since Al Asad was re-elected at the polls in 2021, Abu Dhabi has played a clear rapprochement that culminated last year in a visit by the Syrian president to Emirati territory, the first to an Arab country since 2011.
Some minor gestures of “normalization” have been made by states like Jordan, while the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas last October announced reconciliation with Damascus and last year debates on whether Syria should already be readmitted to the Arab League.
It remains to be seen whether the disaster suffered by the country in early February could precipitate further progress towards the normalization of relations with the Arab world.
On the other hand, the earthquakes occurred just a month and a half after the defense ministers of Turkey, Hulusi Akar, and Syria, Ali Mahmoud Abas, met in Moscow, during the first government meeting held since 2011 between the government delegations of the Asian country. and from the Ottoman country, supporter of the opposition to Al Asad.
Other tripartite meetings were planned with the participation of Russia, an ally of the Damascus regime, a dialogue that could lead to significant developments in the civil war in Syria, where the fronts have remained practically frozen for three years, as well as initiatives aimed at seeking a political solution to a conflict with no end in sight.

And the West?

The earthquakes have also reopened the debate on the international sanctions imposed on Damascus by the United States, the European Union or Canada, among others, and which the Syrian government denounces as affecting the arrival of humanitarian aid for those affected by the tragedy.
In fact, the U.S. Treasury Department ended up announcing that it would allow all transactions to Syria related to the earthquake response until April, so that sanctions would not impede the flow of aid. .
Amid the current international attention and as some begin to question the side effects of the sanctions on the Syrian population, Al Asad’s executive has agreed to allow the use of two border crossings with Turkey to send aid to regions opposed to Damascus. . .
Its green light allowed the UN to bring convoys into rebel areas through the Bab al Salam crossing, out of reach since 2020, and increased to three the direct routes by which it can supply them from the other side of Turkey. divide. .
Thanks to his decision, a vote was avoided in the United Nations Security Council, the body which since 2014 had decided where aid could enter opposition strongholds without passing through the hands of Al Asad and where the Russia had blocked this option.
Some consider that the government would take advantage of the dilemma to promote a facelift or even a misunderstanding.
Al Asad did not miss the opportunity to remind UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths of “the importance of international efforts” to rebuild Syria, devastated by earthquakes and the long conflict, and a process heavily impacted by certain sanctions.