The key facts

  • Ayman Safadi met with Syrian minister Asaad al-Shaibani for the first time since the October airstrike
  • The delegation includes Chief of the General Staff Majid al-Kharasis — security is at the center of the talks
  • The parties are discussing the 'north-south' Turkey–Syria–Jordan–Saudi Arabia transport corridor against the backdrop of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz

A visit after the conflict

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi arrived in Damascus on Monday and, for the first time since the recent escalation, met with his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani. Syrian state media published photographs of the meeting at the capital's airport. The visit was reported by The National.

What preceded the visit

The cooling of relations was triggered by an incident in late October: in the Jordanian village of Khmoud, 80 km south of Amman, there was an attack on a church in which nine people were killed. In response, Jordan carried out airstrikes south of Damascus. According to Syrian authorities, at least seven people were killed — three children, a woman and an elderly man; Damascus summoned the Jordanian ambassador to lodge a protest. Amman said its armed forces had killed at least 20 ISIS members and expressed regret over any civilian casualties.

Delegation composition and agenda

The Jordanian delegation includes the Chief of the General Staff, Major General Majid al-Kharasis, which, as the outlet notes, points to security issues being a priority in the talks. Safadi previously named the main problems in bilateral relations: smuggling of weapons and drugs, water rights under the joint dam, and stability in Syria's southern province of Suwayda, which borders Jordan, where in June, as the authorities tried to take control of the province with a Druze majority, many civilians were killed, mostly Druze. On Monday, the Jordanian army reported intercepting a large shipment of drugs delivered by guided balloons in the area of responsibility of the Eastern Military District, which covers the border with Syria and Iraq; it was not specified where the balloons had come from.

A transport corridor as the backdrop to the talks

The visit takes place against the backdrop of a regional project for transport links between Saudi Arabia and Turkey through Syria and Jordan, which is meant to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, blocked during the war with Iran. In April, Turkey, Jordan and Syria agreed to develop a 'north-south' corridor with a modernized road network, which is eventually to be connected to the Saudi railway network; Riyadh promised to complete the feasibility study for the railway section by the end of the year. For Damascus, transit fees could become a source of hard currency, while Jordan's economy, according to the outlet, has been stagnant for 15 years. Relations between the two countries were not close under the Assad regime, which ruled for 54 years, but in April King Abdullah II hosted a delegation of 15 Syrian ministers in Amman.