Click to see full-size image, by al-Shahed
On October 3, the Kuwaiti al-Shahed newspaper published an exclusive interview with Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. The interview is Assad’s first with a Gulf newspaper since the beginning of the war in Syria 8 years ago.
During the interview, Assad revealed that his government has reached a “major understanding” with several Arab states. Furthermore, the Syrian President said that many Western countries are currently discussing the possibility of restoring relations with Damascus.
When asked about Kuwait, Assad said that the Kuwaiti media played a “honorable role” during the Syrian crisis and praised the Kuwaiti Amir, Sheikh Sabah Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, for his humanitarian efforts to help the Syrian people.
Kuwait ceased its relations with Syria in late 2011, along with several other Arab states. Later, Syria was suspended from the Arab League after the failure of the Arab peace plan for the country.
Lately, the Syrian relations with Arab states, especially Gulf states, have been witnessing an improvement. Last week, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Muallem was filmed having a public warm chat with his Bahraini counterpart Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa on the sidelines of the 73rd UN General Assembly session. Prior to that, Arab sources revealed that senior officials of the UAE had visited Damascus.
Some local observers believe that we will soon see more improvement in Syrian’s relations with other Arab states. Several sources even talked about the ongoing efforts to restore Syria’s seat in the Arab League.
