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French FM to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Are Working with Saudi Arabia to Support Regional Stability

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna (EPA)
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna (EPA)
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French FM to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Are Working with Saudi Arabia to Support Regional Stability

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna (EPA)
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna (EPA)

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said in remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday that strengthening France’s relations with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE can be considered as a way to respond to chronic and escalating instability in the Middle East.

The minister pointed to Iran adopting systemic escalation in a crisis-ridden Middle East. She said that Tehran does so by pressing onwards with destabilizing nuclear, ballistic, and drone programs and using proxies abroad.

In addition to suppressing Iranians at home, the regime in Iran continues to threaten other countries in the region. It is also participating in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Colonna confirmed that France is “determined to stand” in the face of these threats, and that it will remain “faithful to its obligations towards the security of its partners” in the Gulf region.

In her interview, the minister affirmed that her country is “seeking to strengthen cooperation with Saudi Arabia in order to find solutions to regional crises.”

Colonna said that the region can “rely on Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the poles of stability in the region.”

She stressed that “Paris wants to strengthen relations with Riyadh in all fields, and that it supports Saudi Arabia’s national transformation plan, dubbed “Kingdom Vision 2030.”

Colonna, who is visiting the Gulf region for the first time, said that she is carrying a “simple message,” that countries of this part of the world can count on France in the face of chronic and growing instability that has become a reality in the region.

“Strengthening relations with our partners in the Gulf region, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is a way to confront this reality,” said Colonna.

The French minister recalled the untold devastation brought about by Russia’s war on Ukraine and said that the world’s nations must adhere to “common principles of the UN Charter in this regard.”

“These principles stipulate that no country has the right to invade a neighboring country, and this principle applies in Europe, the Middle East and throughout the world,” she stated.

“In fact, the Middle East is suffering from crises as well, and the region is primarily facing the escalation that Iran is deliberately leading by carrying out destabilizing activities,” added Colonna.

The top diplomat said that several flashpoints exacerbate the risks of a more difficult situation arising in the Middle East.

She pointed to escalation of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the continuing political vacuum in Lebanon, instability in Yemen and the volatility of the situation there without a cease-fire agreement.

Additionally, there is the failure in Syria.

“France fulfills its commitment to support and secure its partners in the Gulf region and is ready to strengthen cooperation with Saudi Arabia in order to resolve regional crises and combat the hotbeds of instability in the region,” reiterated Colonna.

Colonna urged mobilizing all efforts to promote dialogue.

“We must seize all opportunities in order to limit the areas of conflict,” she explained.

Highlighting that cooperation among the countries of the region has great potential, Colonna said: “We must urge cooperation in this troubled region in order to achieve the interests of all in general, and for the sake of the peoples of the region in particular.”

The minister emphasized that Saudi Arabia and the UAE represent stability in the region.

She affirmed that Paris has already “embarked on a solid partnership with Saudi Arabia.”

“We want to strengthen all aspects of this partnership in the fields of economy, energy and culture,” added Colonna.

She asserted that France supports Kingdom Vision 2030, which was put forward by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“We seek enhancing support for the Kingdom in the economic and social transformation projects that it undertakes and the transition it leads in the field of energy,” said Colonna.

Moreover, the minister revealed that she will soon be meeting with the newly appointed Gulf Cooperation Council secretary-general.

“The GCC proves the region’s ability to overcome differences in the pursuit of unity and contributing to peace. This is of paramount importance in the period of turmoil the region is facing,” said Colonna.

When asked about Iran’s behavior in the region, Colonna said: “We and our partners persevere in seeking a diplomatic solution to the current situation. We call on Iran to implement all its international obligations.”

“We remain determined to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” she asserted.

“Unfortunately, however, our sources of concern are not limited to the nuclear issue. Iran threatens its regional environment and seeks to destabilize it,” added Colonna.

The minister explained that Iran operates directly in its neighboring countries through proxies that pursue its interests.

“Such destabilizing activities are on the rise,” said Colonna.

Affirming that Paris is determined to confront Iran about its illicit activities, Colonna said: “We are communicating closely with our international and regional partners in order to address the situation by focusing on the transfer of remote drones and missiles carried out by Iran in violation of Resolution 2231 of the UN Security Council.”

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.