Description: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met his Syrian counterpart Asaad Al – Shibani in Damascus where they announced enhanced joint cooperation amid the lifting of Western sanctions. The meeting comes two days after Syria announced its government signed a cooperation agreement with a business consortium comprised of US, Turkish and Saudi companies for the restructuring of its electricity grid by developing a 5 thousand gas and solar power plants. Faisal announced that Saudi Arabia would be heavily involved in supporting the resuscitation of Syria’s public sector and infrastructure development as well as other forms of extended cooperation in sectors such as telecommunications, energy, agriculture and information technology. Syrian Foreign Minister Al – Shibani stated that the lifting of sanctions from the US, EU and the UK would largely facilitate the development of the Syrian economy and put the country on the market for foreign investors.
Impact: The geopolitical battle for prevalence in Syria is finished with the incorporation of a joint proportion of influence between the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The projected business consortium would be only the initial step towards infiltrated channels of influence from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the US within the newly established HTS government. On the back of growing international support, President Ahmed Al Sharaa has managed to legitimize himself as the country’s leader but is still facing pressure from the divided military fractions and external security threats such as the Islamic State. Syria is still largely destabilized, however, foreign presence in the form of economic investments would most probably be followed by security guarantees yet to be implemented by the incumbent Syrian government. The number of militant and extremist fractions remain a constant threat to the country’s stability while foreign influence puts the country as the centerpiece for US, Turkish and Saudi Arabian influence operations in the region, and as a strategic hub in the Middle East,