The Syrian Crisis and Saudi Arabia’s Regional Policy (2011 - 2014)

Abstract

Abstract With the onset of the political crisis in Syria, regional and trans-regional actors began to adopt different stances according to their interests in relation to this country which has a special geopolitical and geostrategic importance in the Middle East. Meanwhile, continuous efforts of some governments to put pressure on and overthrow the Assad regime are one of the obvious factors in Syrian dilemma which have added to the complexity of the situation in this country. In order to contain Iran as part of its foreign policy strategy, Saudi Arabia as a regional actor has played a significant role in the changes in Syria. Saudi Arabia has initiated extensive measures, from financial and spiritual support of al-Qaeda militants to active participation in the Western-Arab axis, in order to persuade other countries to support the Syrian opposition and launched ceaseless efforts to attack this country. This article studies the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia and the interests and efforts of this country in the internal changes of Syria. The results of this analysis show that Saudi Arabia has entered the Syrian crisis with the aim of improving its own regional position and, in this regard, has adopted policies that will cause damage to the long-term interests of this country.

Keywords

• the syrian crisis
• saudi arabia
• iran
• offensive realism
• al-qaeda