His enthusiastic welcome to President Bashar al-Assad at the Arab summit with a warm embrace defied US disapproval of Syria’s return to the Arab League and capped a turning point in the prince’s fortunes brought on by geopolitical realities, the report said. ‘agency.
The prince aims to rebuild Saudi Arabia as a regional powerhouse, using his place atop an energy giant in an oil-dependent world consumed by conflict in Ukraine. Rejected by Western states after the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, he has now become an actor that Washington can neither ignore nor disavow, but must deal with on a commercial basis, underlines the publication. Skeptical of US security promises to Saudi Arabia and tired of their reprimanding tone, Mohammad bin Salman is instead forging ties with other world powers and, despite Washington’s horror, changing his relationship with their common enemies.
Admittedly, Saudi Arabia remains militarily dependent on the United States, which saved it from the possible invasion of Iraq by Saddam Hussein in 1990, monitors Iran’s military activities in the Persian Gulf and provides Riyadh with most of his weapons. However, while Washington appears less involved in the Middle East and less receptive to Riyadh’s concerns, the Saudi prince is pursuing his own regional policy with less overt respect for the views of his most powerful ally, experts have concluded.
“This is a strong signal for America that ‘we are changing and reshaping our relationship without you,'” Abdulaziz al-Sagher, president of the Gulf Research Center, said at the summit. According to him, Saudi Arabia’s alliance with regional adversaries is based on Saudi Riyadh’s approach to regional security.
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