Description
“[Al-]Assad is very pragmatic, and he takes the money from where it comes from,” said Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London, in an interview with Al Jazeera. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s from the Saudis, Iranians or Russians. In this context, the regime will do whatever is in its own interests. We’ve seen them being very confident in the way that they engage other Arab countries, especially Egypt, saying we will do whatever is in the interest of Syria and we’re not making any major concessions.”“If investments can’t be made into Syria outside of the narrow scope of humanitarian assistance, and if the sanctions stay in place without any waivers, as it is at the moment, there’s no way that either the UAE or Saudi Arabia will put money into Syria and thereby provide the [al-]Assad regime with any incentive to wean off either the Russians or Iranians,” explained Krieg. “Likewise, why would they stop the Captagon trade if they are now losing a couple of billion dollars every year from that drug trade and that loss can’t be offset by money from the Gulf?”
| Period | 19 May 2023 |
|---|---|
| Held at | Al Jazeera, Qatar |
Keywords
- Syria