Source The Washington Institute
Media www.rajawalisiber.com – Recent overtures by Middle East leaders toward Syrian President Bashar al Assad — including a possible return to the Arab League — raise the possibility that the country may soon be fully reintegrated into the world order after a dozen years of isolation. Normalization of the Assad regime could have important implications for U.S. foreign policy, but would it make a difference for the Syrian people themselves?
In this episode of Middle East Matters, the Institute’s Martin J. Gross Senior Fellow Andrew Tabler and independent Syria analyst Ahed al Hendi discuss the growing acceptance of Assad by his neighbors, the reasons behind this movement, and the policy ramifications for Washington. The episode is hosted by Friedmann Fellow Hanin Ghaddar.
The panel discussed:
· Will Assad be willing to give up the lucrative trade in the illegal drug Captagon which has flooded the Middle East?
• Would normalization undermine the reauthorization of U.S. Caesar Act sanctions or the presence of U.S. troops fighting ISIS in northeast Syria ?
• Did the U.S. general license permitting the import of earthquake aid to Syria the door to normalization?
• Would normalization improve the lives of the Syrian people themselves who now live in a country divided among regime- and opposition-controlled areas or in exile?