Evolution of the Syrian Peace Process and the Position of the “Key” States Regarding the Syria’s Return to the Arab Fold

Abstract

Introduction: The Syrian conflict remains one of the most acute unresolved conflicts of our time. Its internationalization, the active intervention of foreign states, especially the United States and Turkey in the dynamics of the conflict and their military presence on Syrian territory, remain obstacles to the settlement. However, the spring of 2023 was marked by a number of political events in the Middle East, which allow us to take a fresh look at the prospects for the Syrian peace process. Against the backdrop of increasing Israeli strikes against Syria, a serious strengthening of Iran's position and cross-border se­curity threats spreading from Syria in the face of de­teriorating socio-economic indicators in Syria due to Western sanctions, the leading Arab countries began to reconsider their relations with earlier rejected by them President B. Assad and started negotiations on the "return" of Syria to the Arab family.  Materials and methods: Russian and foreign studies on the Syrian peace process, news sources of the world media were used as materials for writing the article. The methodological base was made up of discourse analysis and a comparative analysis of the approaches of the largest regional powers to the issue of resolving the Syrian conflict.  Research results: The admission of Syria to the League of Arab States, the opening of diplomatic missions of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman in Syria allow us to conclude that the peace process is now in the hands of the countries of the Middle East region. The peace process also no longer consists of negotiations between the regional countries involved in the conflict and the Syrian government solely over the political structure of Syria, but rather consists of negotiations on the conditions for the legitimization of the Syrian au­thorities.  Discussion and conclusion: At the same time, the role of Russia in the peace process is to organize negotiations between Syria and a number of the most authoritative Middle Eastern states: Turkey and Iran, in order to find acceptable conditions for the normalization and withdrawal of their troops from the territory of Syria in exchange for guarantees of their security and maintaining a certain balance of their interests in Syria and the Middle East region as a whole. The existing joint foreign policy interests in other regions of Russia with Turkey and Iran built interdependence relations and gave Moscow certain levers of influence on them in the Syrian negotiation process, which makes it an influential participant in the settlement of the conflict.