Two opposing forces in the region have started to talk despite deep-seated reservations on both sides. The Russian and Iranian alliance backing Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and the Saudi-led coalition that backed the Syrian rebels recognise that the persistent lack of action to end the murderous Syrian civil war should not continue and progress towards the Geneva political process is vital. The chaos of the civil war has also allowed the terrorists of Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) to establish control over a dangerously large territory and people, which must be stopped.
It was in this context that His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces met Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in Sochi, after which Shaikh Mohammad said that the UAE will make every effort to back political solutions that would safeguard the security and stability of Syria, as well as its territorial integrity. Shaikh Mohammad put this in the context of an urgent need to end the Syrian crisis that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrians, displaced millions of innocent people, as well as resulted in the loss of years of human and economic development.
Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud also met Putin, after which the Russian side said that both Saudi Arabia and Russia have similar objectives, which is not to let a terrorist caliphate take over Syria. Prince Mohammad expressed Saudi Arabia’s long-standing anxiety over Russia’s military intervention in Syria and the country’s possible alliance with Iran, but added that Saudi Arabia was in favour of a political solution in Syria. Prince Mohammad maintained that this required the departure of Al Assad, a staunch ally of Moscow. But many others, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, have agreed that Al Assad must go in time, but can remain as part of an interim regime.
