The jihadi regime ruling Syria after overthrowing the Assad dynasty in December dispatched its foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday to seek foreign investment for their war-torn and terrorist-haunted land.
“I will be honored to represent Syria for the first time in its history at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland. We will convey to the world our development vision for Syria’s future and the aspirations of our great people,” Shaibani said.
For most of the 55 years since the WEF was established, Syria was ruled by two brutal dictators, Hafez Assad and his son Bashar. The Davos forum was never fond of either regime, given their savage repression of dissent and their tendency to seize control of every industry in Syria and then run it into the ground.
Bashar Assad managed to survive the civil war that began with protests against his rule in 2011, thanks to military assistance from Russia and Iran, but was knocked out of power with astounding speed after his patrons were weakened by their setbacks in Ukraine and Gaza, respectively.
Assad was driven out of Damascus by an insurgency led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which began as an offshoot of al-Qaeda called the Nusra Front.
HTS and its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani sought to distance themselves from al-Qaeda and reinvent themselves as a more tolerant and pluralistic brand of Islamists, making promises that while Islam would reign supreme in post-Assad Syria, minority groups would be protected. Religious minorities viewed these promises with suspicion, especially Syria’s long-suffering Christians and the Alawites, the Shiite sect that counted Assad and much of his ruling elite as members.
Jolani shed his terrorist alias, returning to his birth name of Ahmed al-Sharaa, once he became Syria’s de facto ruler. He claimed his junta is merely an “interim” step toward a more legitimate nationally-elected government, and would focus its efforts on rebuilding Syria’s war-ravaged towns and cities, as well as shoring up the national economy by attracting foreign investment.
The Financial Times (FT) on Wednesday reported Sharaa and his “interim government” have their work cut out for them, because Syria’s finances are in much worse shape than they expected.
Among other things, the new government discovered Bashar Assad racked up $30 billion in debt purchasing military support from Russia and Iran, the foreign currency reserves in Syria’s central bank have been completely drained, Assad built political support by hiring legions of employees the Syrian government cannot afford to pay, and key industries like agriculture and manufacturing were badly mismanaged by the dictator’s cronies.
Shaibani told FT that his government will privatize Syria’s moribund industries as quickly as possible to generate profitable exports, and will seek public-private partnerships for infrastructure like airports and roads – all of which are in such terrible shape that finding private investors will be a monumental task.
“We don’t want to live off humanitarian aid, nor do we want countries to give us money as if they’re throwing the investment in the sea,” he said.
Shaibani said one of his top priorities in Davos would be persuading the U.S. and Europe to lift sanctions against Syria, beyond the handful of waivers for humanitarian aid they have already issued. He noted it would be extremely difficult to find foreign investors, or regular customers for Syria’s exports, if potential partners are afraid of triggering punitive sanctions.
The European Union (EU) has made it clear they will not lift sanctions until Sharaa makes good on his promises to govern Syria in a stable and humane manner, while potential Middle Eastern partners like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt are worried about terrorist groups regaining their strength in post-Assad Syria and spreading their malign influence beyond its borders.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah called for sanctions on Syria to be lifted in his speech to the WEF on Tuesday and indicated his country was ready to do business with the post-Assad government in Damascus.
In his FT interview, Shaibani discussed the delicate question of Turkey’s enormous influence with the new Syrian government, after years of heavily supporting insurgent groups against Assad and forging alliances to combat the Syrian Kurds, who Turkey regards as its greatest security threat. The foreign minister promised other powers do not have to worry about “Turkish expansion,” or Turkish “subjugation” of Syria.
Shaibani did, however, agree with Turkey that Kurdish armed forces should disband and integrate with the Syrian national army. He also argued that Damascus should take over the prisons for captured Islamic State fighters that are currently managed by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
“The existence of the SDF no longer has justification,” Shaibani declared. The Kurds would appear to strongly disagree, and they were vital partners for the U.S. and Europe in the grueling war against ISIS in Syria, so the success of Shaibani’s mission to Davos may hinge on how his government plans to handle the conflict between the Kurds and Turks.
Another thorny issue is the “security buffer” Israel established on Syrian territory after doing battle with Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists in the Gaza war. The Jerusalem Post (JP) on Wednesday reported that Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called on Israel to withdraw its forces from Syria and Lebanon in his speech to the WEF, while Turkey is boycotting the Davos form over Israel’s actions, as it did last year.
Read the full article here
