Will Riyadh and Moscow agree on Syria solution?

Beirut: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s weekend meeting with the powerful Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman was more than a Kodak moment for the two leaders.

The wars of Ukraine, Yemen, and Syria were all on the table. Small indicators are already emerging indicating that a regional breakthrough might be in sight, signed off by Moscow and Riyadh.

The main obstacle to date has been the future of Putin’s Syrian ally, President Bashar Al Assad.

Riyadh has aggressively taken sides with Syrian rebels fighting against the central government in Damascus. It has funded both politicians and rebels on the Syrian battlefield.

Last August, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said: “There is no place in Syria for Al Assad.” Two weeks later, he repeated the exact same line at the UN General Assembly, even threatening using force to ouster the Syrian president.

Something changed, however, when the Russian Army rumbled into Syria a few days later, providing the Syrian Army with modern Sokhoi fighter jets, sophisticated satellite imagery, and T-90 tanks.

The Russians have been striking at Syrian rebels trained and bankrolled by Saudi Arabia and the US, in the countryside of Homs, Hama, and Idlib. Their declared objective is to stabilise what they view as the legitimate government in Syria.

Last week, an ‘informed’ Saudi source was quoted in international media saying that Riyadh would retaliate by giving lethal weapons to the Syrians to use against the Russians and Al Assad.

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UN said that he had “profound concerns” about the Russian escalation, but apart from lip service, the kingdom has done nothing to aid its Syrian proxies.

Russia even took the liberty to speak on behalf of Riyadh on Sunday. “We have closely cooperated with Saudi Arabia for years on the crisis in Syria. We have similar objectives when it comes to Syria,” Russian Foreign Minister Serge Lavrov said during his meeting with the Deputy Crown Prince, who is also the Saudi Defense Minister.

High on the list, he added, was preventing a “terrorist caliphate” from overtaking Syria.