Will Damascus normalize with Israel ... Russian expert: This what it takes

At a time, Syria is witnessing an economic crisis as a result of the Caesar’s sanctions imposed by the United States, the latter announced on February 27 that the Russian "Sputnik" vaccine had arrived in Syria, and the Minister of Health in the Damascus government announced earlier that the vaccination would begin on the 28^th of February without providing further details.

In this context, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed that the vaccine is part of the hidden clauses of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Damascus government, earlier February.

In a report published last month, the Syrian Observatory wondered about the source of the government’s ability to buy the "Sputnik" vaccine in light of the "ugly" crisis in the country.

'Vaccine versus normalization'

In addition, Israeli reports revealed that supplying the Damascus government with the Russian vaccine "Sputnik" came as one of the secret clauses of the Syrian-Israeli deal. The reports confirmed that Tel Aviv agreed to buy hundreds of thousands of doses of Russian vaccines which costs 1.2 million dollars to supply Syria with it, as part of the deal.

After a week of talking about the Israeli-Syrian agreement, the Syrian ambassador to Russia, Riyad Haddad, announced that Damascus would receive the vaccine from Russia for free, and later confirmed Haddad's talk about free vaccine to the Damascus government.

In this context, the expert in the Russian Council for Foreign Affairs, Andrei Shubrigin, told ANHA agency that "there is no talk about friendliness between Israel and Syria, whether through the Russian ally or any other way." He added that Russia does not have the necessary factors for such a step. " Russia has the means to do this. "

'Russia and the Syrian crisis'

Since the beginning of the Syrian war, that turns its 11th year next March, the Russian mediator has supported the Damascus government politically, but with the loss of Damascus in 2013, several towns in Damascus countryside and several other cities have asked Russia support for fear of an imminent fall.  

However, the Russian response was slow, as it waited two years for its support to shift from a political veto in the Security Council to a military one, and strengthened its military presence in Syria from September 2015, launching air strikes in Syria since September 30, 2015.

The Russian intervention came after the Iranian support for the Damascus government at all levels, as Tehran supported Damascus politically, economically and militarily under the pretext of protecting the Shiites sites in Damascus, either through the Lebanese Hezbollah members or sending thousands of Iranians and experts into Syria and their involvement in the war.

Is normalization with Israel a lifeline for Damascus?

Despite all the Russian support, and its attempts to save it from the inevitable fall, it was unable to prevent European countries and Washington from imposing sanctions on Damascus through the Caesar Act, strangling Syria.

The Caesar Act is a set of sanctions imposed by Washington for stopping the human rights violations and these sanctions stipulate a freeze on reconstruction aid, imposing sanctions on the Damascus government and companies cooperating with it, as well as targeting Iranian and Russian entities, and the Caesar Act came into force on 17 June of last year 2020.

In this case, the Damascus government has no way out of these sanctions except for Israel, that is close ally to the United States of America. In addition to improving the Syrian economy, is it possible for Damascus to give up the fortress of resistance and dispense with its previously occupied territories Israel normalizes relations with it?

In this context, the Russian researcher believes that it is difficult to convince the Syrian government of the need to a political solution with Israel and said: "Persuading Damascus needs to contribute from the Gulf countries' investing for the reconstruction of Syria," in addition to a promise from the US to lift sanctions and solve the Golan problem. "

The Russian researcher indicated that it is impossible to fulfill all the Syrian conditions for normalization, and said: "I do not see the possibility of all of them being implemented, especially the Golan problem, which has no solution at the present time."

'Israel's interests in Syria'

The Iranian role in Syria alarmed Israel as Iran is the indirect enemy of Israel through its support for the Palestinian Hamas movement and the Lebanese Hezbollah, which have been fighting Israel for a long time.

With the large number of Iranian in Syria, Israel did not stand idly by,  rather launched military strikes from time to time against the sites of the Iranian deployment in Syria, inflicting heavy losses on them.

Regarding Israel's interest in normalization with Syria, Andre says: "Now it is in Israel's interest to expel Iran from the Syria and force Syria to sign the status quo on the Golan."

'Secret clause'

A prisoner exchange deal took place between the Damascus government and Israel, with Russian mediation, earlier last month, during which two Syrian shepherds were released in exchange for an Israeli girl who crossed earlier the Syrian border illegally.

American and Israeli reports revealed that the exchange deal, went beyond the exchange of prisoners, and that it was related to stopping the Israeli strikes on Syria.

The American "Axios" website indicated that Russia tried to expand the agenda of consultations on the exchange, and asked Israel to stop its raids on Syria, stressing that it impedes the delivery of humanitarian aid.

In another context, Hebrew and foreign media reported that Israel had agreed to acquire hundreds of thousands of doses of Russian vaccines for Syria.

The two sides later denied this news, as the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, denied news that Israel agreed to supply Syria with Russian vaccines as part of a prisoner exchange deal, and for its part, the Damascus government's SANA denied what was circulated about a secret clause in the exchange process.

Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz said that the deal included securing the return of the Israeli girl in addition to an unusual clause that was not disclosed, because it was likely to anger the Israeli public.

'Previous talks did not yield results'

Several attempts culminated under the auspices of the United States of America, while Syria and Israel were on the verge of signing a peace agreement mediated by the United States prior to the outbreak of the Spring of the People revolutions, and one of the most important conditions for signing Damascus cut off military ties with Tehran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, and neutralize any threat to Israel in exchange for regaining the occupied Syrian Golan Heights from Israel, to the line of June 4, 1967, according to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

However, all of these American attempts failed due to Damascus' intransigence and its continued support for Hezbollah and its relations with Iran that prevented the signing of the agreement.

Russia's goals of normalization!

Observers believe that, at the present time, Moscow is competing with Washington to repeat these attempts, as Russia believes that it can play a new game in the Middle East through the Syrian gate, the basis of which is isolating Turkey and reducing Iranian influence in Syria with security arrangements that satisfy Israel and open a new door that Moscow holds its basic keys.

As for the Russian role in this agreement, the Russian researcher Andrei Shubrigin concluded his speech by saying: "Russia has the ability to play the role of the party providing the guarantee in protecting Syrian political and economic interests."

Several Arab countries signed peace agreements with Israel during the era of former US President Donald Trump, and this leaves the door open for other Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel to get rid of some of the crises that their regimes are experiencing and to obtain Israeli and American support.

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ANHA