Donald Trump's foreign policy flip in the Middle East
All the "billion-dollar contracts and bling" of his visit to the Gulf last week shouldn't blind us to the fact that "Donald Trump pulled off a diplomatic coup, perhaps the boldest of his second term", said Pierre Haski in World Crunch (Paris). Surprising even his own Treasury officials, the US president announced in Riyadh that he was lifting all sanctions on Syria – paving the way for the country's reintegration into the international community after the toppling of dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
The news sent shockwaves through Syria, said Syria TV (Istanbul). Thousands flocked to squares in Damascus, Aleppo and elsewhere to celebrate – "waving flags and chanting slogans, amid a sense of joy and hope for what lies ahead". For a country that has been blighted by 13 years of civil war, at the cost of at least 500,000 lives and widespread economic devastation, it was a "historic moment" – "equal to the joy of the regime's fall".
It was also a huge coup for Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said Caitlin Allen on Reaction (London). "It's not every day you hear a US president praising a former al-Qa'eda commander for his tough-guy past." But Trump, as we know, is unpredictable, and soon after his extraordinary meeting with the Syrian leader, he was fawning over his "young, attractive" looks, and complimenting his "very strong" rebel background.
It's remarkable. This is a man who battled American troops in Iraq and, "until a few months ago, had a $10 million US bounty on his head". But Sharaa has pulled off quite the image transformation since his rebel group helped overthrow Assad, said Tarik Ismail in Daraj (Beirut). He has dropped his nom de guerre, Abu al-Jolani, and has pledged to turn Syria into a free, tolerant state. Moreover, like countless other Middle Eastern leaders, continued Caitlin Allen, Sharaa knows exactly how to woo Trump: he has reportedly "offered American companies exploration rights for Syria's natural resources", and "floated the idea of constructing a 'Trump Tower' in Damascus".
Trump has been far too "rash" in embracing this ex-jihadist, said Clemens Wergin in Die Welt (Berlin). "Islamist movements that have come to power have almost always proved disappointing": just look at the autocratic rule of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. Clearly, "sinister elements" remain within Syria's rebel coalition, given the recent massacres of Alawite and Druze minorities. It would have been more prudent to retain enough "leverage" to "pressure the regime to maintain a moderate course".
But Trump was powerless to resist the lobbying of his Gulf state hosts, said Simon Tisdall in The Guardian (London). Fact is, he now dances to their tune. While Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar flattered him with fighter-jet escorts and dizzying Boeing deals during his trip last week, they are now effectively "dictating US foreign policy". All three lobbied for sanctions on Syria to be dropped; Trump relies on these petromonarchies "to an unprecedented degree" – to keep oil prices low, to maintain their colossal investment in the US – and so he duly obliged. As he made the announcement, he gestured to Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman, and exclaimed: "Oh, what I do for the crown prince!"
There's one real loser in all of this, said Ben Sales in The Times of Israel (Jerusalem): Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli PM is being increasingly sidelined by Trump. First, the US unexpectedly announced it was negotiating with Iran. Then it agreed a truce with the Houthi terror group in Yemen. Now Netanyahu has "to look on with repressed anger", said De Volkskrant (Amsterdam), as Trump rehabilitates a man he still considers "a jihadist".
Netanyahu should have been careful what he wished for, said Shai Golden in Israel Hayom (Tel Aviv). He bound himself too tightly to Trump from the beginning, believing him to be the most "pro-Israel" president in history. But the truth is, Trump always does "what suits him" – and now Netanyahu, like a mouse "in a gilded cage", can only watch on powerlessly.