The U.S.'s closest Arab allies are pressing President Barack Obama to take the lead in bridging the Middle East's divisions over Syria, traveling to Washington to drive home their fears some of the region's leaders are strengthening radicals and prolonging President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
The
U.S.
's
closest Arab allies are pressing President Barack Obama to take the lead in
bridging the
Middle East
's divisions over
Syria
,
traveling to
Washington
to
drive home their fears some of the region's leaders are strengthening radicals
and prolonging President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
The coordinated message was delivered to Mr. Obama during separate White House
meetings in recent weeks with Jordan's King Abdullah II, the United Arab
Emirates' Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Saudi Arabia's Foreign
Minister Saud al-Faisal, according to senior U.S. and Arab officials familiar
with the discussions.
The three royals' message to Mr. Obama was a not-so-subtle slap at
Qatar
and
Turkey
--both
of which, officials in these Arab countries believe, are funneling funds and
possibly weapons to groups promoting political Islam and in particular to those
aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.
They are also concerned that aid from
Qatar
has
bolstered the Al-Nusra Front, a powerful Syrian militia fighting Mr. Assad's
forces, which the
U.S.
has
designated as a terrorist organization.
"We need someone to manage the players" in the region, said a senior
Arab official involved in the discussions. "The
U.S.
and
the president are the only ones who can put
Qatar
in
its place."
Qatari officials, who have publicly denied supporting the Al-Nusra Front,
declined to comment. A Turkish official denied Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan's government was favoring Islamist parties in
Syria
or
anywhere else in the region. "We just support the rights of the Syrian
people," the official said.
Throughout
Syria
's
conflict, the five Sunni lands have backed efforts to support the rebels. But
they have largely broken into two camps when it comes to supporting specific
rebel groups or leaders--which
U.S.
,
European and Arab leaders say has contributed to the fracturing of the
opposition.
Saudi Arabia
,
Jordan
and
the U.A.E. are central players in American efforts to bring about an end to the
civil war in
Syria
,
contain
Iran
's
nuclear program and kick-start a new round of Arab-Israeli peace talks. But the
U.S.
also
relies heavily on
Qatar
and
Turkey
to
advance a Syrian political transition and to restart the
Mideast
peace
process.
Riyadh
,
Amman
and
Abu
Dhabi
are positioning themselves as a moderate front in
the Syrian crisis, said these officials, seeking to support rebel factions not
aligned with the Brotherhood or linked to extremist militants.
Arab officials said they haven't pressed Mr. Obama to deploy American troops in
Syria
or to
use
U.S.
warplanes. Instead, they hope he will play a higher-profile role in seeking to
forge a moderate, unified coalition that is purged of "radical"
elements that threaten Syrian minorities who might otherwise already have
broken with Mr. Assad.
A White House official declined to comment on the specifics of Mr. Obama's
talks with the three leaders but stressed that he is aggressively working to
unify
Mideast
states on
Syria
.
Mr. Obama also met with
Qatar
's
prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, last month in
Washington
. He
will host Mr. Erdogan at the White House in the coming weeks, the official
said.
In more than two years since political rebellions broke out across the region,
Jordan
, the
U.A.E. and
Saudi Arabia
have
been alarmed by the dominance of the Brotherhood in the newly democratic
governments in
Egypt
and
Tunisia
,
viewing their emergence and ideology as threats to the stability of their
monarchies.
Qatar
and
Turkey
have
sought to use the
Mideast
's transition to expand their
diplomatic, economic and religious influence, say
U.S.
and
Arab officials. The two countries have been the most aggressive in seeking to
overthrow Mr. Assad.
Qatar
has
been the primary financial supporter of the new governments in
Cairo
and
Tunis
,
providing billions of dollars in aid to President Mohammed Morsi's government
over the past 18 months, according to Qatari officials.
"In my opinion, some of our region, they did not like what happened...and
they don't like it when the Muslim Brotherhood came," Sheikh Hamad,
Qatar
's
prime minister, said in
Washington
last
month. "But we respect the [other's] will and the people's will in the
other nations."
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