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Southern Syria High on Agenda of Jordanian-Russian Summit

King of Jordan Abdullah II (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shake hands during the Annual Meeting of Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, October 3, 2019. (Getty Images)
King of Jordan Abdullah II (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shake hands during the Annual Meeting of Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, October 3, 2019. (Getty Images)
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Southern Syria High on Agenda of Jordanian-Russian Summit

King of Jordan Abdullah II (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shake hands during the Annual Meeting of Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, October 3, 2019. (Getty Images)
King of Jordan Abdullah II (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shake hands during the Annual Meeting of Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, October 3, 2019. (Getty Images)

Jordanian King Abdullah II is set to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.

The monarch’s visit is taking place around a month after a trip he carried out to Washington where he met with President Joe Biden and officials from his administration.

Jordanian sources predicted that the developments in southern Syria, specifically Daraa, will figure high on King Abdullah and Putin’s agenda.

The region, neighboring Jordan, has witnessed a spike in tensions and clashes as the Syrian regime prepares an offensive against remaining armed opposition factions.

King Abdullah and Putin are likely also set to discuss the smuggling of weapons and drugs from Syria to the Kingdom after numerous illicit operations were busted.

Amman and Moscow often cooperate in security coordination in Syria and its border. Jordan has offered intelligence information about the movement of several armed militias in Syria, including factions loyal to ISIS, as part of counter-terrorism efforts.

Jordanian political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat said the Moscow talks will also tackle several bilateral issues, including developments in the Palestinian territories and the importance of establishing fair and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution.

Economic, investment and security cooperation is also on the agenda.

The sources said Jordan was mulling providing necessary aid to support the Lebanese state and military in order to preserve Lebanon’s security, stability and unity. Jordan has recently expressed readiness to help provide Lebanon with gas and electricity as it grapples with a crippling fuel and electricity shortage.

King Abdullah and Putin had last met in October 2019 in the Russian resort city of Sochi.

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Arab World

Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Former head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks on Sunday with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose group led the overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations between their countries.

Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad's father, former President Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father decades ago. He is the most prominent Lebanese politician to visit Syria since the Assad family's 54-year rule came to an end.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for your battle that you waged to get rid of oppression and tyranny that lasted over 50 years,” said Jumblatt.

He expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

Jumblatt's father, Kamal, was killed in 1977 in an ambush near a Syrian roadblock during Syria's military intervention in Lebanon's civil war. The younger Jumblatt was a critic of the Assads, though he briefly allied with them at one point to gain influence in Lebanon's ever-shifting political alignments.

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he said, pledging that it would respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Al-Sharaa also repeated longstanding allegations that Assad's government was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was followed by other killings of prominent Lebanese critics of Assad.

Last year, the United Nations closed an international tribunal investigating the assassination after it convicted three members of Lebanon's Hezbollah — an ally of Assad — in absentia. Hezbollah denied involvement in the massive Feb. 14, 2005 bombing, which killed Hariri and 21 others.

“We hope that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese will be held accountable, and that fair trials will be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said.