[News] Normalisation is death of Arab sovereignty, Syria is the best example

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/opinion/normalisation-is-death-of-arab-sovereignty--syria-is-the-bes>
Normalisation is death of Arab sovereignty, Syria is the best example
Robert Inlakesh
August 14, 2025
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Robert Inlakesh argues that Syria’s normalization with "Israel" has eroded
its sovereignty, deepened instability, and turned it into a tool of
US-Israeli policy; a cautionary tale for the Arab world.

   - [image: The positions of the current regime in Syria are indefensible,
   not even from a selfish materialist perspective. (Al Mayadeen English;
   Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)]
   <https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/8/14/816d8cad-f8d6-4350-bbe9-001a660e3a75.png?width=1000>
   The positions of the current regime in Syria are indefensible, not even
   from a selfish materialist perspective. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated
   by Batoul Chamas)

We have reached the stage where it can no longer be denied that the Syrian
leadership is at the complete mercy of the US and its allies. Its
normalisation drive, whereby its officials meet with their Israeli
counterparts, are not negotiations but discussions aimed at achieving the
best implementation of Tel Aviv’s orders.

When Arab states make the decision to capitulate to the Israeli-US
normalisation and neo-liberal economic model, they set themselves up for a
loss of sovereignty and to become at best a tool for policy makers in
Washington.

If we look at the Jordanian and Egyptian models, we see that their
agreements have not saved them from growing instability and economic
decline, particularly in Egypt’s case. Once, it had become a big deal when
President Hosni Mubarak began selling gas to the Israelis, now, Cairo
purchases gas through its own pipelines that have reversed the flow.

Turning our focus to the current predicament of Syria, it is not even
correct to assess it is based upon the Egypt model. In fact, despite some
similarities, it is in even worse a predicament than Sudan.

The Sudanese state, following the fall of its former leader Omar Bashir,
went into a transitional phase whereby the Army and Rapid Support Forces
(RSF) militia agreed upon a power-sharing phase. During this time, the
Zionist Entity swept in to take advantage of the situation, fostering
relations with both sides, but particularly with notorious goldmine owning
war-lord Hemedti’s RSF.

Sudan, working closely with US President Donald Trump’s administration at
the time, managed to get sanctions lifted, remove itself from the State
Sponsors of Terrorism List, receive sanctions relief and aid, while almost
paving the way to adopt a neo-liberal economic model; seeking IMF and World
Bank loans.

Khartoum had pledged that in exchange for these “gifts” from the US, they
would join the so-called “Abraham Accords” and began negotiations behind
closed doors with the Israelis.

Is this starting to sound familiar?

Then, in April of 2023, the Civil War erupted, and the Israelis swept in to
back both sides, after having covertly provided the RSF with military
capabilities that enabled it to balance the power on the battlefield in the
first place. While the Mossad supported the RSF, the Israeli Foreign
Ministry leaned towards the Sudanese Army.

In Syria, almost the exact same process has occurred. Yet most pretend as
if we haven’t seen this same story before.

The key difference, however, is that the new Syrian government of Ahmad
al-Sharaa has less control than when the RSF and Sudanese Army ran an
interim unity government. The recent sectarian bloodshed in Sweida proved
this without a shadow of a doubt.

There are now separatist militias in Sweida who actually coordinated with
Israeli-Druze army forces who had set up a joint communications room to
help locate targets during the latest round of bloodshed. Meanwhile, the
Syrian security forces had coordinated the entry of tanks into Sweida with
the Israelis, yet were bombed anyway, leading to as many as 700 dead
amongst their ranks.

While the majority of the Syrian Druze and wider Syrian public oppose ties
with the Israelis, the Zionist Entity finds inroads with both sides and
watches on as they slaughter each other, all in the interest of further
weakening the country.

Ahmad al-Sharaa was basically non-existent, as it appeared for over a week
that Syria was heading towards another civil war, only offering brief
statements before the US envoy announced a bizarre arrangement, claiming
that Damascus and Tel Aviv had agreed to a truce.

It was especially strange because the announcement didn’t initially come
from the Syrians themselves, but also due to the fact that there was no
Syrian-Israeli war. What was happening was that Syrian forces were getting
blown to pieces and ordered to stand down. The only relevance the Syrian
government forces had was in their failed role inside Sweida, where they
went out of control and participated in civilian massacres, alongside
Bedouin tribal forces.

Never in the known history of war has a nation been invaded, occupied, its
capital repeatedly bombed and hundreds of its soldiers blown to pieces, and
the country being attacked did not respond in any way. Not only have Ahmad
al-Sharaa’s forces failed to fire a single bullet towards their occupiers,
they have not even threatened the use of force.

Even worse, rather than respond, they give the Israelis gifts like infamous
spy Eli Cohen’s belongings, cracking down on the Palestinian Resistance
forces, and declaring fellow Muslims and Arabs their enemies, despite them
being the only ones willing to stand up for Syria.

Meanwhile, every minority group in the country is isolated, and every
community feels the need to bear arms and protect themselves, as nobody
trusts the ill-trained, unprofessional security forces.

This is what capitulation looks like, a leadership which exists more so on
Facebook, X [formerly Twitter], and Instagram than it does in real life. A
sectarian bloodbath, with no stability, no national unity, no sovereignty,
and whose leaders are collaborating with the genocidal entity, in violation
of all the regional, national, cultural, and religious moral obligations.

This is normalisation. This is capitulation. This is what happens when you
worship at the feet of your occupiers. Syria is the worst case of all,
because there is no longer even a united nation or cause that it embodies,
which has, for the current moment, died.

Only through a unified resistance front will Syria liberate itself. It may
take time, but this is the only path, and historically, the Syrian people
had resisted the Ottomans, the French, and even got themselves back on
their feet after the CIA overthrew their government in 1949. It can happen,
but it will take the Syrian people to come together in order to overcome
their predicament.

There is no example of where normalisation with the Zionist regime, or
total capitulation to the US, saves a nation in turmoil. Even in the cases
where the US poured trillions into attempts to set up new regimes, like
what happened with Iraq and Afghanistan. The only examples of where a
regime has not yet declined or sacrificed its security predicament due to
normalisation, are in the cases of the UAE and Bahrain, but both were
already immensely rich, and nothing much changed upon normalisation.

However, even in the cases of the UAE and Bahrain, their positioning
themselves as part of the Israeli-US regional anti-Iran alliance puts them
in the firing line and could risk national stability in the event of a
broader war.

The positions of the current regime in Syria are indefensible. Not even
from a selfish materialist perspective could you argue their case without
engaging in mental gymnastics. There is no strategic depth, nor a
demonstration of competent governance in the direction we see the nation
going, and at a time when unity is needed the most.
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