Eli Lake, Columnist

America’s Arab Allies Are Warming to Syria’s Dictator

Biden should be clear that there will be consequences for any state that moves toward normalizing relations with Assad.

October 11, 2021 at 6:00 AM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Back in the day: Bashar al-Assad and King Abdullah II, October 2001.
Photographer: Getty Images/Hulton Archive

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King Abdullah II of Jordan made news last week when he took a phone call from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It was the first contact between the king and president in more than a decade, since Syria’s civil war began.

It was part of a pattern. Since 2018, Arab states that once funded and armed Assad’s opposition have been trying to restore diplomatic ties with his regime. Since President Joe Biden came into office, these efforts have intensified. Last month, the Egyptian and Syrian foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Last week, trade ministers from Syria and the United Arab Emirates met to discuss how to expand economic ties.