Helsinki agreement provides new hope for Syria

The understanding on Syria reached by US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16, especially regarding the return of refugees, represents a potential watershed in recasting US-Russian coordination to expand humanitarian assistance and bring the seven-year war to a close.

The attention given to Trump’s remarks on Russian meddling in the 2016 election at the summit may be drowning out awareness of the impact of Helsinki, which is already being felt in the region. There seems to have been a list of short- and long-term action items for both principals in advance of the next summit in Washington in the fall. And Putin is already busy on his list.

The short-term tasker, and the one with immediate resonance, is the initiative on Syrian refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). The Russian Defense Ministry sent proposals to Washington on July 20 for US- and Russian-led monitoring groups in Lebanon and Jordan to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees and the plan to finance the reconstruction of Syrian infrastructure. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, in a turnaround, has welcomed the initiative on refugees, signaling perhaps a change of view, or at a minimum acceptance, by leaders in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.