US officials criticize Biden’s lax policy regarding Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Monday a group of 40 Syria experts and US former officials signed a letter to be send to US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging them to forcefully curb pouring Arab efforts towards normalization with Syria.
They wrote in the letter, “Unconditional regime normalization is not inevitable…tacitly allowing it is short-sighted and damaging to any hope for regional security and stability.”
“The signatories agreed that “opposing regime normalization in word only is not enough.”
Among the signatories were former US special envoys to Syria Frederic Hof, James Jeffrey, former CENTCOM chief Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, and former US deputy special envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
On March 21, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson, during a press briefing, stressed his country’s rejection of normalization “our stance against normalization remains unchanged…we will not normalize with the Assad regime.”
The letter comes in a time when Arab countries rush to restore ties with Syria following years of isolation for the Syrian government’s brutality against its people in their endeavor to help healing sufferings of the Syrian people due to the disaster of the Feb. 6 earthquake that killed thousand and wounded many more in addition to leaving immense destruction of infrastructures.
On March 19, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accompanied by his wife Asma al-Assad arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in an official visit.
On March 20, al-Assad made his first visit of its kind since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011, to the Sultanate of Oman in an official trip.
On March 23, media outlets reported that Syria and Saudi Arabia have agreed to reopen their embassies after cutting diplomatic ties more than a decade ago.
On March 10, Tunisia President Kais Saied announced he intends to restore diplomatic relations with Syria, following a decade of break-off.
Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry, arrived in Damascus on Feb. 27 in the first visit since the start of the Syrian crisis.
On Jan. 5, the UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on a second visit to Syria in a decade.
The letter highlighted the issue that any regional normalization with the Syrian government “erodes the international community’s capacity to shape a political process aimed at meaningfully resolving the crisis.”
It came up with a number of recommendations including maintaining a light US presence in northeast Syria in partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their fight against Islamic State (ISIS).
It called for putting more pressure on foreign countries to repatriate their nationals of ISIS, who are kept in prisons and camps in northeast Syria, posing a threat on the security and stability of the region and the entire world.
Additionally, it recommended that the US and its allies activate a plan B for delivering humanitarian aid to Syria and that the administration comes up with a clear definition of “earthquake relief,” since the current guidance includes “many avenues for sanctions evasion.”