The Sunni Arab world nations have recently launched a courtship attack on the Assad regime, after years of a cold shoulder on their part while the dictatorial regime fought for its life in a bloody civil war, aiming to drive a wedge between the Syrian regime and the Iranian axis.
As part of this effort, Jordan broke a nearly decade-long boycott when Abdullah's move spoke on the phone with President Assad, a move that seemed impossible a few years ago.
Yesterday, the United Arab Emirates' foreign minister, Prince Ben-Zeid, and the Syrian ruler also met at his palace in Damascus.
While the Biden administration has been furious at the meeting and the recognition provided by Abu Dhabi to a regime deemed assigned out of disgust in Washington, the UAE insists it is an effort that will serve regional stability.
Egypt has also recently stepped up its contacts with the Assad regime and it seems that the moderate Sunni Axis countries are ready to open a dialogue with the regime in Damascus and it is very possible that the condition for this is the reduction of Iranian presence, or Iran's separation from the battle-torn country.
Another indication of this was received today, when Saudi-controlled media reported on a sharp rift between a lost regime and Iran.
According to the report, Assad expelled from the country the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the country, General Mustafa Javed Jafari, this against the background of activity and of the Iranian general against Israel.
Commander of the Quds Force in Syria, General Mustafa Javed Jafari,
According to the news network from a source within the Syrian regime, Damascus expressed anger over the "over-activism" of the pro-Iranian militias, apparently in actions against the United States and Israel, and claimed that the Iranian general's conduct "violated Syria's sovereignty."
In addition, the source claimed that the general admitted to his Syrian counterparts that he had ordered the placement of weapons and people in places where the Syrian regime had explicitly prohibited it, information that acquires meaning, according to the source, against the background of Israeli attacks in the country.
The source also claimed to the Saudi network that Jafari had approved a series of military attacks on the United States and Israel, without receiving permission from the government in Damascus.
In addition, the source reveals, the Syrians were outraged at a trade made by militia leaders in the country's black market, taking advantage of Syria's economic hardship and severe shortage of basic goods in the country, in order to enrich the coffers of the organizations and their commanders.
The source added that the militias made use of Syria's natural resources in order to fill their pockets systematically.
AP,
It is difficult to verify the claims, which clearly come from the corridors of power in Riyadh, due to the secret nature of Iranian involvement in Syria and due to the reluctance of the Assad regime to publish the disagreements you will make with its longtime allies.
But in recent months, too, a picture has emerged from Syria that Iranian involvement in the south and east of the country is getting out of control and complicating the Syrian flotilla, which is exhausted by the ongoing civil war and economic crisis due to US sanctions.
However, even now it is hard to believe that the Assad regime will give up for abstract promises an ally that helped rescue it from the teeth of Sunni rebels.
Even today, after the regime achieved military victory in most parts of the country, Iran's military and material aid is still critical to its continued survival and an unprecedented return will be required, which will also include the consent of Russia, the Assad regime's second major ally, to reach a deal.