Bandar Unable to Change Russia’s Attitude towards Syria

A former Syrian minister underlined that Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Bandar Bin Sultan has failed to achieve his objective during his recent visit to Moscow which was changing President Vladimir Putin’s attitude towards Damascus as Syria has a strategic importance for Russia.

“The Syria-Russia relations are too deep to be compromised by money, especially in view of the fact that Damascus and Moscow are both struggling for establishing a new system in the international arena which was initiated by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2005 known as Moscow Declaration…,” Mehdi Dakhlallah, also a former Syrian ambassador to Riyadh said on Monday.

“Since the beginning it was clear that Prince Bandar was not pursuing achievement of a solution to the crisis in Syria during his recent visit to Moscow,” he added.

“We all know that the war that is currently going on in Syria is aimed at preventing the new order to materialize and Saudi Arabia and Prince Bandar should know that the outcome of Syria’s battles cannot be changed, bought or sold by spending a sum of $15 billion to $20 billion,” Dakhlallah added.

Prince Bandar Bin Sultan is becoming problematic for Saudi Arabia as he has practically become a commander for militant groups fighting against the Syrian government.

Prince Bandar Bin Sultan is said to be conducting plans to alter the situation in Syria according to his interests and has been travelling to Washington, Moscow, Paris and London to meet his partners on the matter.

A report in the al-Akhbar wrote the Saudi prince regularly trips to Turkey to manage flow of arms and backup forces to Syria and he goes to Jordan to persuade security agencies with incentives to cooperate with him against the Syrian government.

The report says, Bandar is essentially the only member of the House of Saud to have a proactive diplomatic approach, with access to the major decision-making capitals of the world, from Washington to Moscow.

Bandar recently visited Moscow to negotiate in his capacity as the “Prince of the Mujahideen” in Syria, including those who hail from Chechnya, Dagestan, and the Caucasus in Russia’s backyard.

From Dagestan alone, more than a hundred fighters are enlisted in the al-Qaeda-affiliated “Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar”, which is active in Northern Syria.

But Bandar himself represents a problem for Saudi. And usually has very unrealistic expectations.

His most recent experience of a military nature took place after Israel’s 2006 assault on Lebanon, when Bandar convinced the Saudi king to bankroll a militia for Saad Hariri.

Some observers familiar with that experience say that Bandar spent more than $200 million to build this paramilitary force, only for the whole plan to meet a catastrophic defeat in less than 20 hours of fighting, in May 2008.

Despite his failures, Prince Bandar is still hoping to be able to go on with his ill-considered plans and according to the reports, it has been eight months that he has stepped up his support to the anti-Syria armed groups to reach what he thinks is a balance in the armed battle.

Source:FNA

R.Sawas