Tabnak - As the outlines
of Donald Trump’s Middle East policy become more and more clear, Washington’s
Arab allies are finding themselves in a more favorable situation comparing to the
former US President Barak Obama era, especially regarding the Syrian issue. It
has appeared that Trump is serious in establishing "safe zones” in Syria and
that is what Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf partners want the most.
In his
latest public remarks Saturday night in Florida, Donald Trump once again talked
about his aim to establish safe zones in Syria, noting that US Arab allies will
pay for establishing such zones. "We’re going to have the [Persian] Gulf States
pay for those safe zones”, Trump said in a gathering of his supporters. "They
have nothing but money”.
Indeed,
it’s not the first time Donald Trump is going to have the others pay for the
plans he would like to realize. From early days of his electoral campaign,
Trump has been suggesting that once becomes president, he will start building a
border-wall to prevent the illegal Mexican immigrants come to the US and will
have the Mexican government pay for it.
Although
it has appeared that Mexico won’t pay for the border-wall and now the US
administration is planning to finance it from the tax revenues, when it comes
to the Middle East and especially Syria, things are completely different. In
other words, in this case the American taxpayers have nothing to worry, because
the Arab states of the Persian Gulf are more generous than to refuse Trump’s
request!
Establishing
safe zones in Syria, is what the Persian Gulf Arab states and Turkey have long
insisted on, seeing it as way to enhance the Syrian rebels and accelerate the
process of ousting President Bashar Assad. However, given the huge risks
associated with such a move, until his last day in office Obama refused to do
so. However, in at least four separate cases so far, Trump has shown that he is
in favor of the idea.
Welcoming
Trump’s position, Saudi Arabia not only declared its readiness to increase
cooperation with the US in Syria, but also raised another option: sending
ground forces to conduct joint military operations with the US. In an interview
with German newspaper Zud Deutsche Zeitung, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel
al-Jubeir, suggested that some other members of the so-called "Islamic coalition
against terrorism” – a loose coalition consisted of Saudi Arabia and its allies
– are also ready to join and send troops to Syria.
It seems
that Jubeir’s positions was delicately made to assure the White House about one
of the most serious concerns relating to the safe zones, namely the huge military
build-up needed to safeguard the zones. So, in fact Jubeir is telling the US "Don’t
worry! You can absolutely count on us. Just move! Just get rid us of Bashar
Assad!”
However,
it would be an oversimplification if the White House thinks that it’s just
about money and troops. In fact, the real challenge for the US would come next,
after taking the first steps to establish the zones, because Syria is where a
wide range of parties, from the Syrian army to the Russian air force are active
and since the Syrian government is firmly against the idea of safe zones, any
such move could be regarded as a hostile act, risking a confrontation not only
with the Syrian troops, but also with its main supporter, Russia.
So,
maybe instead of asking whether the Arab states are ready to pay for the safe
zones and help safeguarding it, a better question is that what the Arabs could
actually do in case that an escalation leads to a confrontation with Russia?!
