New and old ‘friends of Syria’

Trend Arabic news service commentator Aygul Taghiyeva

The crisis in Syria has remained one of the main topics in the media and international organisations for almost a year. Today, the picture in the country is as follows: the number of victims of the insurgency exceeds 5000; there are explosions every day, the army fires and bombards the residential neighbourhoods of Homs, Hama, Aleppo and other cities.

While the authorities have engaged in the struggle against the armed opposition, the region and major world powers are searching for an answer on how to resolve the prolonged crisis.

Thus, the 'friends of Syria' governments are seeking to reach an international agreement in order to end the violence in this country and will gather once again in the capital of Tunisia to discuss the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces and the League of Arab States (LAS) into Syria. The initiative belongs to Turkey and it was originally planned to hold this meeting in Istanbul, advisor to the President of Turkey Hurmyuzlyu Ershad told Trend previously.

Turkey, which was against the violence in Syria from the beginning, has taken a tough stance against the regime of Bashar al-Assad recently. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described the situation in Syria as a massacre and blamed the President directly.

Saudi Arabia is also taking a tough stance. Foreign Minister Al-Faisal called the countries of the region to move to make closer contacts with the Syrian opposition and "give it all kinds of political and material support" he stated at a meeting of Arab League.

The Saudi king said the veto by Russia and China on the agenda of the UN Security Council on Syria has shaken confidence within the organization.
The fact that Saudi Arabia has offered to move from words to deeds is not surprising. Riyadh as anyone else in the region is interested in the fall of President Assad who governs a regime supported by Iran.
At the same time China and Russia, permanent members of the UN Security Council still believe the promises of Assad on reforms and fight against terror and refuse to give consent to the adoption of the resolution on Syria.

Russia's support for Syria can be attributed to a long-standing partnership. Damascus is one of the largest importers of Russian military equipment and weapons and Tartus, Syria's largest Mediterranean port is where the Russian Navy is based which is of great importance to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

China which cannot be called a leading ally of Syria is a partner of Iran, both in energy and trade areas. Thus Beijing, by blocking a resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council was likely trying to support Iran's position in the Syrian issue.

However, it is worth paying attention to the following nuance. In January, Beijing signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia on oil deliveries to China which twice reduced the import of Iranian oil to China. Apparently China which is the largest importer of Iranian oil, decided to reduce its energy cooperation with the Islamic republic, squeezed by the numerous economic sanctions of the EU and the U.S.

It is possible that by reducing dependency on Iranian oil, China is preparing to move into the ranks of those who support the anti-Syrian resolution in the UN Security Council.

In this case, it should not be ruled out that a meeting of 'Friends of Syria', both new and old, will lead to the fact that concrete steps will be taken to resolve the protracted crisis.