QAMISHLI, Syria (North press) – Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, emphasizes the need for a political solution in Syria. However, the Minister ruled out, at the same time, it [Syria] could regain its seat at the Arab League, stressing the need for Syria to take steps to guarantee the return.
Over the years of the war in Syria, the governing system in Egypt changed twice with two different positions regarding the revolution of the Syrian people.
Events in Syria followed the ousting of the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and assuming the power by the military council led by Marshal Ali Tantawi who preserved silence at the time towards what was taking place in Syria.
After that, Muhammad Morsi supported publicly the “revolution of the Syrian people” however, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has changed everything.
El-Sisi affirmed to the media delegation that accompanied him in his first visit to the United States (September 2014) that within the context of the Syrian war, Syria remains a strategic depth for Egypt.
At the time, he called for the respect of Syria’s territory, saying Egypt’s national security is attached to the Syrian state and its integrity irrespective of the “regime” ruling it, whether the current one or any other governing system that could attain such a unity.
At the end of 2016, Syrian President Bashar Assad affirmed in media statements that Syrian-Egyptian ties were improving, indicating that such tie were “confined to security cooperation.”
On September 24, 2021 Sameh Shoukry met his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in the city of New York.
At the time, Shoukry made it clear that his meeting with Mekdad was “an important one after weapons fell silent in Syria, to find the steps that could preserve capabilities of the Syrian people to exit the crisis and regaining Syria as an effective factor in the Arab context.”
Afterwards, on separate occasions, the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Ministry stressed the need to accelerate efforts to find a political solution in the country.
Late in September, Shoukry affirmed his country’s support towards a political solution to the crisis in Syria.
This came in a meeting with Geir Pederson, the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, in the framework of Egypt efforts to end the crisis in Syria and to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people, according to a statement released by Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
In February, Shoukry confirmed, in a phone call with Pederson, the necessity of ending the political stalemate in Syria and to push the political process forward to guarantee an overall compromise for the crisis that in turn allows Syria to regain its control over all Syrian national soil that guarantees its security and integrity.
Last year, Egypt pressed for the return of Syria to the Arab League, however, more recently that position has been shifted remarkably with Shoukry stressing that Syria undertakes steps that could facilitate its return to the Arab League which was frozen in November 2011.
Since 2011, the Arab League has suspended, in an emergency meeting, Syria’s membership in the League until Syrian government shows compliance in implementing the terms of the Arab peace initiative to find a political solution and settlement in the country.
While Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID) Abbas Kamel had supported the return of Syria to the Arab League since 2020, Cairo sided with Saudi Arabia, opposing the return of Syria to the league until a political solution is reached in the country based on the UN Res. 2254.
Regarding the economic filed between the two countries, Lebanon along with Egypt and Syria signed, on June 21, an agreement to import annually 720 mc of natural gas from Egypt to Lebanon through Syria.
In September 2021 an agreement was reached among countries related to the Arab Gas Pipeline (Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan) to deliver gas to Lebanon via Syria and Jordan.
However, deferral grew Egypt concerns that it could be affected by the US imposed Caesar Act on the Syrian government.
However, the Lebanese government indicated the US promised to exempt Egyptians from the Caesar Act targeting any part deals with Syria.
The US delivered written assurances that Caesar Act will not affect Egypt. However, recent modifications proposed by the Congress of definition given by the Caesar Act to the gas project could tell different versions.
If the proposal made by Republicans in the Senate and Congress is adopted, the agreement could not be put into application.
“Mandatory sanctions under the Caesar Act target foreign persons who facilitate the Assad regime’s acquisition of goods, services, or technologies that support the regime’s military activities as well as its aviation and oil and gas production industries,” according to the act.
Both the rejection to regain its seat at the Arab League and the draft paper of the US proposal of any modifications to the gas project, Syrian-Egyptian relations remain suspended waiting for new moves that could usher in a new change.