Arab countries' diverging stances on Syria's return to the Arab fold

Weeks ago, the UAE's President, Mohammed bin Zayed, expressed his desire for Syria to return to its Arab surroundings during his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

However, according to the Wall Street Journal, not all Arab countries support Damascus's return to the Arab fold, such as Qatar, Morocco, Kuwait, and Yemen.

According to the same newspaper, Egypt is among those countries. But the two countries have started to revive their relations, beginning with communication between the Syrian and Egyptian presidents following the earthquake that struck Syria and culminating in the visit of Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad to Cairo days ago.

Furthermore, the American newspaper pointed out that the reason for rejecting these countries of Syria's return is that they want the Syrian President to give the Syrian opposition a role in determining the future of Syrians, as hinted at by a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.

However, to facilitate Syria's return to the Arab fold, some demands are required from the rejecting countries, including the suppression of illicit drug trafficking, acceptance of the deployment of Arab forces to protect returning refugees, and the demand for Iran to stop expanding its influence in the country, according to the same newspaper.

The Moroccan side also wants Syria to end its support for the separatist Polisario Front, which demands the independence of Western Sahara. As for Kuwait, it seems that it will not object to Damascus's return to the Arab League if there is an Arab consensus on that, according to diplomatic sources cited by a Kuwaiti newspaper.

So will Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's diplomacy reunite the Arab world on Saudi Arabia's soil before the upcoming Arab summit in the kingdom next month?