Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, July 20
Last week, all eyes were set to Helsinki, where U.S. President Donald Trump met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to discuss the relationship between Washington and Moscow. Both sides continue, in the aftermath of the event, to shape the narrative of the summit in ways that best meets their nations’ needs. However, they are not the only ones looking back at the summit and analyzing its repercussions. In Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani closely followed the two leaders’ press conference. He could afford a smile after hearing Putin reaffirm Russia’s commitment to the nuclear deal and his praise of Iran’s attempt to salvage the agreement together with the E.U. The Iranian president likely got less comfortable when the two leaders mentioned Syria and Israel in their remarks, suggesting that Iran will have to withdraw all of its forces from the Israeli border. Another individual who closely followed the events in Finland is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He, too, could afford a sigh of relief. After years of fighting his opposition, Assad finally managed to secure his position as the legitimate ruler of Syria. Washington accepted, even if tacitly, the Russian plan for Syria, which includes the protection of Assad’s regime. In Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also kept an eye out for news from Helsinki. Perhaps more than any other leader in the world, the Israeli premier emerged as the true winner of this summit, as both Putin and Trump assured him that they would protect his country’s security interests within any framework in Syria. On the flip side of this equation, the two biggest losers of the Summit are Turkey and the Kurds. Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan hoped to see his Syrian counterpart, Assad, go home. This will clearly not be the case. The Kurds, meanwhile, realize that they had been manipulated. When the international community needed their help in fighting ISIL, Kurdish militias were promised support and backing in their quest for independence. Now, following the defeat of Islamic State, Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani has quickly learned that the dream of turning Iraqi Kurdistan into an independent state will have to wait for now. Only time will tell how successful Washington and Moscow will be at repairing their damaged relations. One thing remains clear: The agreements reached between Trump and Putin in Helsinki will have implications on nearly every country in the region. –Ghassan Sharbil