A US think-tank has ruled out closer ties between Egypt and Bashar al-Assad's regime despite a reported, unofficial visit by Bashar al-Assad’s nephew to Cairo in December 2014, which some Egyptian media outlets viewed as a sign of rapprochement.
In an article for the Washington Institute for Near East Policies, former acting US ambassador to Cairo, Marc J. Sievers, said that even if the visit by Bashar’s nephew, Emad – an official at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Latakia – was purely technical. “It stands out as the first publicized visit to Egypt by a Syrian regime figure since the beginning of the Syrian uprising.”
He added that the visit could serve as “a testing of the diplomatic waters toward a normalization of relations between Cairo and Damascus.”
Sievers, however, pointed to some factors that would constrain Cairo’s potential tendency to restore relations with Bashar al-Assad’s Syria.
“Despite the Egyptian military's traditional ties to Syria and their aversion to the Syrian opposition, Sisi's Egypt remains unlikely to get too close to the Assad regime, primarily due to the Egyptian leadership's close connections to and dependence on support from the Arab Gulf states,” Sievers said, referring to Gulf states’ support for transition from Assad’s rule and declared backing of armed opposition.
“Even if Egypt wanted to normalize ties to the Syrian regime, their need to stay on good terms with the Saudis and Emiratis in particular is likely to continue to impose serious constraints on how far they can go,” he added.
