By: Dr. Shehab Al Makahleh and Maria (Dubovikova) Al Makahleh

The synchronization of several military and political tracks vis-à-vis the Syrian conflict in terms of meetings and communications among world regional leaders or in the preparations in full swing in Riyadh and Sochi to coincide with Geneva requirements is not coincidental as agreed by US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The victories of the Iraqis over Daesh and the inception of combing the desert between Iraq and Syria means that there is a new balance of power that began to form between Iraq and Syria orchestrated by Russia, which recognizes the plans of the United States in Baghdad and Damascus and thus seek to block Washington from investing the victory over Daesh by self-proclaiming these achievements for its own personal goals at the expense of the Syrian and Iraqi peoples.

The three-day Sochi Summit, which began November 22 under the patronage of Russian President Vladimir Putin and attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish counterpart Rejjep Teyyep Erdogan, is another Yalta Summit which was held in the aftermath of the Second World War, which set the world's map of today, including the Middle East. Sochi meeting was held with the participation of three countries quite soon it would entail other members such as Syria and Iraq due to their proximity to Sochi and the Black Sea. The summit comes after a surprise visit by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Russia, specifically to Sochi, the Russian resort on the Black Sea, a symbol of the Russian Federation being close to the Middle East (Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq). Therefore, many of those interested in political affairs believe that this visit was a declaration of renewed confidence in the current Syrian leadership to lead Syria and that the meetings and summits in Riyadh, Geneva and Astana are just a result of coordination of members of the Syrian government that will help Bashar al-Assad to lead the country in the next stage.

The summits that brought together Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2010 are two, one in October 2015 and the other in November 2017. But the tripartite summit this time is a radical turning point in the regional events in which the framework of the political process was laid in Syria in conjunction with the Sochi summit, which will emphasize what was discussed by Putin and Assad regarding the political transition and the support of opposition leaders who are accepted by the Syrian government and people. Thus, the Riyadh conference on 22 of November, the Geneva Conference on 28 of this month will openly and publicly focus on the draft of the new Syrian constitution, which was drafted by Russia and the United States.

The visit of the Syrian president in this context shed light on what was discussed in the meeting, which was attended by a number of military figures, that Assad does not only enjoy the political recognition of Russia as a future president of Syria but rather the Russian army vows to do so, especially after the important political and military field developments, the most important of which was the liberation of the city of Albu Kamal, the last city in Syria which was under the control of "Daesh".
Russia, Washington and the region's wars.

Western analysts have paid much attention to Russia's emerging role as mediator of the Middle East conflict. Russia's intervention in Syria has sparked a wave of predictions about the next security crisis in the Middle East, in which Moscow "will assume a leading diplomatic role," which means expanding its geopolitical influence in the east Middle.

In 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a new world order is born of the Syrian war, and the former US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said in 2006 that a new Middle East is born of war. It seems that we are on the threshold of a new world order that is reshaping its plans with new ones that the Arabs might benefit or lose. Are Arabs going to keep up with the new plots and catch up or are they going to keep chasing their “political bread”?