(Eqtsad)- The United Arab Emirates has agreed with pro-Bashar al-Assad businessmen to pump $ 2 billion in Syria, including the finance of wheat shipments, fuel and foodstuffs, on the condition of combatting Turkish influence not Iran, a well-informed source told Eqtsad.
Abu Dhabi last month hosted a Syrian delegation led by prominent businessman Mohammad Hamsho to discuss potential cooperation in trade, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, logistics and renewable energy, state media reported.
Abu Dhabi hopes it can eventually sway the Syria regime toward the business-friendly UAE model, and Dubai can play a role as a hub for trade with Syria, according to Reuters.
The UAE claims that moving closer to Damascus will counter the influence of its rival Iran.
A second senior Western diplomat said that without a U.N.-led political process it would be difficult for sanctions to be removed which would clear the way for investment.
“I don’t think this is the end of the war and time for reconstruction,” that diplomat said.
Eqtsad source assured that the UAE officials had demanded the regime to confront Turkey and pressure it economically by confiscating smuggled goods and punishing traders who buy from Turkey.
Meanwhile, The United States is lobbying Gulf states to hold off restoring ties with the Syrian regime, five sources told Reuters.
The opposing approaches are an early test of whether the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad can gain political and diplomatic credibility after a nearly eight-year civil war turned him into an international pariah.
The U.S. position suggests that Assad is still a long way from being accepted, even after his forces reclaimed most of Syria through victories over Sunni rebels, thanks largely to help from Iran and Russia.
The UAE believes Sunni Muslim states must embrace Syria swiftly in order to move Assad out of Shi’ite Iran’s orbit, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the U.S. approach.
The UAE sees Assad as the “only option”, according to one Gulf source, and believes that stemming Iranian influence in Syria could help prevent the kind of hold it now has in Iraq.
During the war, the UAE did support armed groups opposed to Assad. But its role was less prominent than that of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and its support was mostly to do with ensuring that Islamist forces did not dominate the uprising.
With Assad strengthening his position militarily, relations with some countries have started to thaw. The UAE reopened its Damascus embassy in December.
This was a major boost for Assad, and the United States “gave the Emiratis flak”, said the U.S. official. A UAE official did not respond to a request for comment.
“In the last seven years there has been absolutely zero Arab influence in Syria. Zero Arab influence has been a disaster,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told reporters in a recent briefing in Washington.
He said Abu Dhabi re-established diplomatic ties with Damascus to “be closer to the reality on the ground”.
Gargash said more Arab states need to engage “to crowd the space” taken by Russia and Iran, who support Assad, and Turkey, which backs the rebels.
Government media offices in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman’s foreign ministry did not respond to a Reuters’ request for comment. (With Reuters)
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