US, UAE discuss lifting Assad sanctions for a break with Iran - sources

The US and the United Arab Emirates have discussed the potential lifting of sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, contingent on him distancing himself from Iran and cutting off weapons routes to Lebanon's Hezbollah, according to five sources familiar with the matter, News.az reports citing foreign media.

The conversations intensified in recent months, the sources said, driven by the possible expiry on Dec. 20 of sweeping US sanctions on Syria and by Israel's campaign against Tehran's regional network, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and Iranian assets in Syria.

The discussions took place before anti-Assad rebels swept into Aleppo last week in their biggest offensive in Syria for years.

According to the sources, the new rebel advance is a signal of precisely the sort of weakness in Assad's alliance with Iran that the Emirati and US initiative aims to exploit. But if Assad embraces Iranian help for a counter-offensive, that could also complicate efforts to drive a wedge between them, the sources said.

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi visited Syria on Sunday in a show of support for Assad, and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke to Assad by phone about latest developments at the weekend.

For this story, Reuters spoke to two US sources, four Syrian and Lebanese interlocutors and two foreign diplomats who said the US and UAE see a window to drive a wedge between Assad and Iran, which helped him recapture swathes of his country during the civil war that erupted in 2011.

Lebanese media have reported that Israel had suggested lifting US sanctions on Syria. But the UAE initiative with the US has not previously been reported. All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the back-room diplomacy.

Syria's government and the White House did not respond to questions from Reuters. The UAE referred Reuters to its statement on bin Zayed's call with Assad.

The UAE has taken a leading role in rehabilitating Assad among the mainly Sunni Muslim Arab states that shunned him after he accepted help from Shi'ite, non-Arab Iran to put down the Sunni-led rebellion against him.

The Emirates hosted Assad in 2022, his first visit to an Arab country since the start of the war, before the Arab League reinstated Syria's membership.

The UAE has long hoped to distance Assad from Iran and wants to build business ties with Syria, but US sanctions have hampered those efforts, the sources said.

A senior regional diplomat briefed by Tehran told Reuters Iran had been informed "about behind-the-scenes efforts by some Arab countries to isolate Iran... by distancing Syria from Tehran".

The diplomat said those efforts were linked to offers of possible sanctions relief by Washington.

News.Az