Syria may receive rehabilitation from regional actors, however, it still faces isolation and continued punitive measures — asset freezes, travel bans, and continued economic pressure — from the West at large.
The past few weeks of Arab rapprochement efforts — culminating in Syria’s readmission into the Arab League and a number of multilateral agreements with Damascus — have proven that the region is serious about normalisation with Syria.
The sudden wave of bilateral meetings following the catastrophic 6 February earthquake in southern Turkey and Syria have quickly evolved into multilateral coordination and momentum for full-scale normalisation with the once-isolated President Bashar al-Assad.
Officials in the region have not walked away from normalisation discussions empty-handed.
Recent multilateral and bilateral discussions have reiterated cooperation — some producing formal agreements — regarding the repatriation of Syrian refugees, access to humanitarian aid, coordination over illicit narcotics trades like Captagon, Syria’s security situation, and ultimately, a political settlement for the country’s 12-year long civil war.
Read more in Al Majalla.