On the Opening of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Damascus
After 13 years of severed diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Damascus, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Damascus has recently reopened its doors! The break had its reasons, including the military escalation that led to the closure of both the MOC and MOM operations.
Our policy in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) remains national and objective. Therefore, the resumption of embassy activity in Damascus is positive from a national perspective. With the struggles our Syrian people face in obtaining passports, visas, official documents, and the increasing dominance of Iran in the Syrian regime’s sphere, the presence of other actors may lead to settlements that lessen the shadow of disguised Iranian occupation.
We also see that the Syrian regime is at its weakest, and in our view, it cannot benefit from any normalization efforts. Beyond pushing forward the comprehensive political solution for Syria, the diplomatic and intelligence presence of embassies will be a card in the hands of their respective countries, especially against other intervening regional powers.
Thus, the reopening of the Saudi embassy could mark the beginning of efforts to advance the political process and activate the role of a fully empowered transitional governing body. In this sense, the return of diplomatic relations with the Syrian regime could be both constructive and beneficial.
However, if Riyadh’s embassy is being reopened solely to rehabilitate Bashar al-Assad and his regime and restore his control, it would be a futile effort, a betrayal of the Syrian people. It is hard to imagine that a country as significant as Saudi Arabia would take such a stance, especially given its previous support for the Syrian people’s aspirations for freedom and dignity.
We anticipate genuine efforts to contribute to what we have previously referred to in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) as a “Syrian Taif Agreement,” with Saudi Arabia potentially playing a key role. We see the Kingdom as capable of pursuing this goal, and now is the time for greater efforts, especially following the reestablishment of diplomatic ties, severed for over a decade, culminating in the opening of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s embassy in Damascus, the capital of the Umayyads.
