Attending a climate conference can make sense for Syria’s regime because some experts have blamed climate change for the regime’s crackdown and the war that resulted in 2011.
Published: MAY 16, 2023
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Turkey's Halk TV in Damascus, in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA
(photo credit: REUTERS/SANA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad was invited to attend a climate conference, according to various reports in the region. Ahram Online in Egypt said that “Abdul-Hakim Naimi, the Chargé d'Affairs of the UAE's Embassy in Damascus, handed the invitation to the Syrian president during their meeting on Sunday, Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported.” The meeting will take place in late November and early December 2023.
The UAE is hosting the United Nations climate summit (COP28) in Dubai. Assad has already received outreach from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE in recent months and Syria is being invited to return to the Arab League with conditions. As such, the invitation to COP28 is not unique in terms of the overall regional trend towards a new diplomatic era in which Syria is seen as part of the region. However, for some Western countries, the presence of Assad or Syrian regime officials could be new.
Al-Arabiya noted that the invitation could possibly place “him in the same venue as Western leaders who have opposed and sanctioned him for years. The invitation was extended by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Syrian state news agency SANA reported after the UAE embassy in Damascus tweeted the same.”
UAE invites Syria’s president to COP28
NEWS WIRES
Tue, 16 May 2023
Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad received an invitation to attend the upcoming COP28 climate talks in Dubai later this year, even as the yearslong war in his country over his rule grinds on.
Assad’s invite, late Monday, to the climate talks comes as the Syrian president already is scheduled to attend the Arab League summit this Friday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, years after being frozen out of regional politics. A brutal crackdown by Assad’s government on demonstrators in a 2011 Arab Spring uprising challenging his rule descended into a civil war and consequently became a regional conflict.
The war has killed half a million people and displaced half of its population.
Assad’s invitation came in a letter from Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported. The agency published images of Assad reading the letter alongside an Emirati diplomat in Damascus. The UAE similarly had cut ties with Assad, only to slowly restore them in recent years.
Asked for comment, the Emirati office organizing the upcoming climate conference said in a statement that the event marked “a milestone opportunity for the world to come together, course correct, and drive progress towards keeping the goals and ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement alive.”
(AP)
Saudi King invites Syria’s Assad to attend next Arab League summit
DAMASCUS –
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz has invited Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to attend next Arab League summit scheduled in in the Arabian Gulf country on May 19, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday.
Arab foreign ministers had on Sunday agreed that Syria could resume its role in the body, 12 years after its membership was suspended over Assad’s crackdown on protests against him.
The invitation is a powerful signal that the regional isolation of Assad and his war-battered country is ending.
Regional countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others, had for years supported anti-Assad rebels but Syria’s army, backed by Iran, Russia and allied paramilitary groups, regained most of the country.
The icy ties with Assad began to thaw more quickly after the devastating earthquakes in February. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister visited Damascus last month and his ministry on Tuesday said that the kingdom will reopen its diplomatic mission in Damascus.
Sources had said in April that Assad would be invited to the summit. While Arab countries appear to have brought the Syrian leader in from the cold, they are still making key demands for him to curb Syria’s flourishing drugs trade and secure the return of refugees.
No comments:
Post a Comment