BEIRUT, March 15. /TASS/. The Moscow visit currently being made by Syrian President Bashar Assad is unorthodox and is linked to the need to work out a joint strategy with Russia in light of new prospects the rapprochement process between Iran and Saudi Arabia has opened up in the Middle East, a Lebanese analyst told TASS on Tuesday.

"The political processes in the region are taking on a new dynamic, therefore the leaders of Russia and Syria, Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad, need to get on the same page," believes Nidal Sabi, an expert in inter-Arab relations.

According to him, effective diplomatic efforts by Moscow and Beijing have been reshaping the face of the Middle East. "Last December, Russia brokered an unexpected breakthrough in relations between Syria and Turkey as it invited Ankara and Damascus to resume dialogue and restore cooperation," Nabi said. "This time, China encouraged rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia for the sake of peace and stability, by using its close economic ties with the two," he added.

To Sabi, the agreement concluded in Beijing on Friday to normalize bilateral relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia was akin to a political upheaval. "That memo of understanding draws a line beneath the 40-year period during which the United States used the differences between Tehran and Riyadh to ignite conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon," the expert emphasized. "For the first time, countries in the region have a unique opportunity to live their lives without any neocolonial interference, with Russia and China acting as their allies along this path," he added.

Commenting on the February 6 earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, Sabi said it put on pause the negotiations between the two sides with the mediation of Russia and Iran who joined in a mediation capacity later. "At the same time, the catastrophe that hit the Syrians resonated deeply with the Arab world. Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and other countries arranged emergency deliveries of humanitarian aid through the air bridge to Aleppo, Damascus and Lattakia airports," Sabi said.

According to Sabi, the majority of Arab leaders are now openly in favor of lifting the brutal anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the West a dozen of years ago. "I think the plane with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud on board will land in Damascus in a little while," Sabi concluded.