Syria’s biggest Palestinian refugee camp is now without flags connected with the armed Palestinian factions and the groups’ head offices are shuttered, indicating a significant policy turnaround targeted at courting the United States
[Damascus] Weeks after his unforeseen conference with United States President Donald Trump in Riyadh, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has actually started taking concrete actions towards stabilizing relations with the United States. These procedures represent a sharp pivotal moment in Syrian policy, specifically concerning Damascus’s relationship with the armed Palestinian factions backed by Iran.
Syrian authorities have actually notified armed factions that their existence is no longer welcome in the middle of the state’s brand-new instructions towards calm and small amounts, Palestinian sources verified. Although no main deportation orders have actually been provided, Palestinian factions supported by Tehran have actually dealt with clear pressure, with the state requiring that the factions give up all weapons and taking residential or commercial property and structures coming from the factions. A number of leaders and members of the groups have actually likewise been detained.
Noteworthy figures who just recently left Damascus consist of Khaled Jibril, whose daddy established the Popular Front for the Freedom of Palestine– General Command; Khalid ‘Abd al-Majid, secretary general of the Palestinian Popular Battle Front; and Ziad al-Saghir, secretary general of the Fatah al-Intifada group.
In an effective symbolic scene, flags of the Palestinian factions are now missing from Yarmouk Camp, when the primary Damascus fortress of these groups.
Yarmouk Camp is an informal Palestinian refugee camp, not formally acknowledged by the UN body accountable for Palestinian refugees. Before the war, more than 100,000 Palestinians resided in the camp, and many factions such as the Popular Front for the Freedom of Palestine, Fatah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad had workplaces there.
In the wake of al-Sharaa’s crackdown, those factions’ head offices now appear to have actually been deserted. Syrian authorities have actually supposedly seized all their residential or commercial properties in the capital and surrounding locations and detained numerous of their cadres.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Motion revealed the arrest of popular leaders in Damascus, showing the diminishing political and military area for armed factions inside Syria.
Syrian Defense Minister Marhaf Abu Qasra verified efforts to reorganize the militaries within a merged institutional structure under the Ministry of Defense. Those efforts represent an effort to extend state control over military decision-making and bring an end to the period of armed pluralism.
The brand-new Syrian management appears excited to use clear assurances to the United States and Israel that Syria is no longer a safe house for violent anti-Israel factions. The United States, for its part, looks for to integrate Damascus into a brand-new map of a US-aligned Middle East, unlocking for financial and political assistance. That’s on the condition that the Syrian program completely deserts extremist groups and stops cooperation with Iranian proxies.
President Trump’s conference with al-Sharaa was itself a clear indication of the United States’s altering position towards Syria. Throughout that conference, Trump proposed that Syria sign up with the Abraham Accords and stabilize relations with Israel. It stays to be seen whether Damascus will go that far– however the choice to expel armed Palestinian factions represents a significant desire to break with previous policy and to court United States approval.
Al-Sharaa’s conference with Trump shows much deeper understandings brokered under Gulf auspices. If this course continues, we might witness an extreme shift in Syria’s local position within the next 2 years.
” The United States no longer sees Syria as a direct opponent however rather as a state that can be used to craft brand-new local balances, supplied Iran’s impact is removed,” political expert Sami Al-Haj informed The Media Line. “Al-Sharaa’s conference with Trump shows much deeper understandings brokered under Gulf auspices. If this course continues, we might witness an extreme shift in Syria’s local position within the next 2 years.”
In addition to assuring the United States administration of Syria’s break from previous policy, al-Sharaa is likewise attempting to deteriorate Israeli reason for continuing to strike within Syrian area. Israeli authorities have actually declared that Syria has actually fallen under the control of terrorist groups like the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.
Expelling armed Palestinian factions might likewise be meant as a method for Syria to enhance relations with Gulf nations. Gulf nations, specifically Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have actually played a popular function in reintegrating Syria into its Arab environments by offering political and financial assistance, clearly conditional on Syria’s position towards extremist factions and Iran.
Future Gulf assistance is connected to al-Sharaa distancing himself from extreme rhetoric and following a practical method concentrated on restoration and enhancing Syrians’ standard of life.
Damascus is attempting to encourage Washington and Gulf capitals it has actually left Tehran’s sphere, however the relationship with the Resistance Axis has actually not been entirely severed yet, raising issues that these actions may be simple strategies to acquire financial and diplomatic concessions without genuine tactical changes.
Iran affairs scientist Leila Khuzam kept in mind that those conditions ought not be considered given. “Damascus is attempting to encourage Washington and Gulf capitals it has actually left Tehran’s sphere, however the relationship with the Resistance Axis has actually not been entirely severed yet, raising issues that these actions may be simple strategies to acquire financial and diplomatic concessions without genuine tactical changes,” she informed The Media Line.