Arab League Head Meets Blinken as Syria Issue Looms Large

Arona Baigal, a Middle East security researcher at the Centre for a New American Strategy, said she was paying close attention to how Washington tackles the Syria issue.

“I'd be very intrigued to know how Secretary Blinken will breach these concerns,” she told The National.

"[Questions like], now that you've readmitted Syria, what are the conditions on potentially holding this member accountable?

"How is Syria going to interact with the rest of the members when it comes to several issues, not just security, but also humanitarian?"

Congressional actors in Washington have moved to step up the pressure against normalisation, too, with a bipartisan group in the House of Representatives introducing the Assad Anti Normalisation Act, a pending bill that would codify Washington's opposition to re-establishing relations with the regime.

“This is a showcase that the United States cares about the direction that the Arab League is going with a lot of its decisions,” Ms Baigal added, "be it admitting members, or how they're going about and interacting with the Ukraine-Russia conflict."

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