The Algeria Summit and Conditions for Syria's Participation

The momentum of Arab normalization of ties with Damascus that had started two months ago has slowed down and collided with several new factors and led to the introduction of new conditions.

Arab countries that have signaled rapprochement with Damascus are now waiting for Damascus to take its own steps related to interior and geopolitical issues before making any further moves towards normalizing ties.

In other words, the door leading towards Syria's return to the Arab League and attending the upcoming group summit in Algeria hinges on various conditions, at least for the time-being.

Two month ago, Syrian President Bashar Assad telephoned Jordan's King Abdullah II; their countries exchanged security, economy and military visits; the United Arab Emirates' foreign minister visited Damascus and met Assad; Assad received telephone calls from Arab leaders after Syria's presidential "elections" and Syria has joined various international organizations, such as Interpol and OAPEC.

Added to the above is Syria falling on the list of the Biden administration's priorities. Washington has limited its interest in Syria to providing humanitarian aid and fighting ISIS and has abandoned Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" policy.

Biden's team had carried out talks with Russia that includes Washington's "clarification" of sanctions and offering "waivers" to them on humanitarian grounds. It has also agreed to Moscow's suggestion to funding "early recovery" projects. Russia, meanwhile, has been pressing Arab countries to normalize relations with Damascus. Algeria has also said that it welcomes Syria at the March 2022 Arab League summit.

This normalization path has stalled and put on hold for various reasons.

First of all, not all major Arab countries were unanimous in supporting Jordan and the others' rapprochement with Damascus. Several Arab capitals even questioned whether Jordan's "step-for-step" approach with Damascus would succeed.

Meanwhile, Syria's return to the Arab League demands several steps, notably technical ones that start with the approval of the Arab ministerial council before the summit is held. Politically, consensus is needed from major Arab countries so that quorum is met at the council.

The recognition of the importance of Syria's return to the Arab fold is there, but Damascus needs to take geopolitical and internal steps that ensure that it is not used as a pawn to further Iran's agenda in the region. It must also dismantle drug smuggling networks and cooperate in the fight against terrorism. It must work on providing the grounds for the safe return of refugees to their homes and make progress on the political level according to United Nations resolution 2254.

These positions have been relayed to Washington, which is torn between the stance on Syria envisioned by the US National Security Council’s coordinator for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, and the one shared by Congress. Arab doubts over normalization have strengthened the position of doubters in Washington and have increased demands that the Caesar Act remain in place. Evidence of the American position was shown when the Treasury could not offer enough guarantees to Egypt and Jordan to go ahead with the Arab Gas Pipeline and exempting it from the Caesar Act.

In October, Washington announced it will not normalize ties with Damascus and that a price needed to be extracted from Damascus. The tone has now shifted to Washington discouraging all sides against normalization and against sending wrong messages to Damascus. The US has also held an open session at the UN Security Council on the need to hold war criminals in Syria to account.

The Americans have refused to join Russia in holding political negotiations over Syria. They stressed that lifting sanctions on Damascus was not on the table. So talks between Washington and Moscow are now limited to humanitarian aid and the military deployment in eastern Syria.

The Americans are banking on Russia voting on extending the UN resolution on delivering cross border aid to Syria for another six months. In return, they would be willing to provide funding to early recovering projects and other aid. The concessions are now, however, becoming further tied to coordinating stances with London, Paris, Berlin and Arab capitals.

All of the above in no way signifies a return to the policies of the previous decade. Yes, the Biden administration has abandoned Washington's policy of "state-building" and "regime change", but the signals from Arab and European capitals and Washington say that "closing the chapter of the past comes at a price." Just as the others need to have a reading of the situation in Syria, Damascus needs to have a reading of the situation in its country and the region that will pose a serious test to the "step-for-step"approach.

Saudi Arabia will host the COP16 UN conference on land degradation and desertification next week.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the meeting for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) a "moonshot moment" to protect and restore land and respond to drought.
"We are a desert country. We are exposed to the harshest mode of land degradation which is desertification," deputy environment minister Osama Faqeeha told AFP.

"Our land is arid. Our rainfall is very little. And this is the reality. And we have been dealing with this for centuries."

Land degradation disrupts ecosystems and makes land less productive for agriculture, leading to food shortages and spurring migration.

Land is considered degraded when its productivity has been harmed by human activities like pollution or deforestation. Desertification is an extreme form of degradation.

The last gathering of parties to the convention, in Ivory Coast in 2022, produced a commitment to "accelerating the restoration of one billion hectares of degraded land by 2030".

But the UNCCD, which brings together 196 countries and the European Union, now says 1.5 billion hectares (3.7 billion acres) must be restored by decade's end to combat crises including escalating droughts.

Saudi Arabia is aiming to restore 40 million hectares of degraded land, Faqeeha told AFP, without specifying a timeline. He said Riyadh anticipated restoring "several million hectares of land" by 2030.

So far 240,000 hectares have been recovered using measures including banning illegal logging and expanding the number of national parks from 19 in 2016 to more than 500, Faqeeha said.

Other ways to restore land include planting trees, crop rotation, managing grazing and restoring wetlands.

UNCCD executive secretary Ibrahim Thiaw told AFP he hoped COP16 would result in an agreement to accelerate land restoration and develop a "proactive" approach to droughts.

"We have already lost 40 percent of our land and our soils," Thiaw said.

"Global security is really at stake, and you see it all over the world. Not only in Africa, not only in the Middle East."

Faqeeha said he hoped the talks would bring more global awareness to the threat posed by degradation and desertification.

"If we continue to allow land to degrade, we will have huge losses," he said.

"Land degradation now is a major phenomenon that is really happening under the radar."

Saudi Arabia is hoping for strong, "constructive" civil society participation in COP16, Faqeeha said.

"We are welcoming all constructive engagement," he told AFP, while Thiaw said all groups would be welcome to contribute and express themselves.

"According to UN rules, of course there are rules of engagement, and everybody is guaranteed freedom of speech," Thiaw said.

The Algeria Summit and Conditions for Syria's Participation