Syria: pro-regime media slam Arab conditions imposed on trade

Media outlets loyal to the Syrian regime of President Bashar Al-Assad have increased their “criticism” of Arab conditions imposed on Damascus, the latest of which were the “complex conditions” imposed by Saudi Arabia on the entry of Syrian trucks loaded with goods, vegetables and fruits via Jordan. 

Al-Baath newspaper, for example, slammed what it considered the “abandoning” of Syria. This, claimed the regime’s mouthpiece, was “part of the American policies that contradict the interests of Arab countries” with “neo-conservatives determined to wage a proxy war against Syria until the last dollar in the pocket of every Lebanese, Jordanian or Iraqi, just as they wage [a proxy] war against Russia until the last Ukrainian soldier.” 

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The newspaper said that the conditions aim to “accelerate Syria’s move into the arms of Western countries, otherwise the regime will be held responsible for slowing down, delaying or procrastinating in meeting the supposed solutions that they had planned.” 

It claimed that the welcome given by Arab leaders to Assad at the Jeddah summit demonstrated that Syria was, and will remain, at the heart of its Arabism. “And that even the summit’s host country was agreeable, even ‘tacitly complicit’ with Syria.” 

In defiance of the Arab conditions, the newspaper concluded its article by asserting that the economic crisis in Syria will eventually end, and whoever believes the Syrian Arab people can be tamed is “delusional”. 

Indications of the faltering Arab normalisation process with the Syrian regime have increased recently. The latest of these were the strict conditions imposed on Syrian goods for fear of smuggling narcotics into Saudi Arabia. Syria has long been accused of profiting from a “flourishing” drugs trade.

Another indicator is the delay in reopening the Saudi Embassy in Damascus which, according to earlier reports, should have happened in early June. 

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