The reasons for President al-Assad's postponed visit to Russia

The visit of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to Moscow was important in its timing and then in postponing this visit so current international developments would not make the visit lose its significance.

News of the visit was aired by Moscow before Damascus, who kept silent until the Russian ambassador in Damascus volunteered to reveal some of the secret in a press conference in which he tackled the issue of the sale of Russian armaments to Syria.

The Russian ambassador then said that nobody has the right to oppose this arms deal and that Russia had sent a note of protest to Washington in this regard, referring to the US plan to sanction Russian companies involved in the transaction.

Only then Damascus did break its silence on the eve of the declared date of the visit, saying it was necessitated by the need to rebalance contradicted international relations and to reactivate the Russian role in the Middle East peace process.

Al-Assad's decision to postpone the visit is in light of the Russians being deeply involved in the Yugoslav issue, the intensified pressures on President Yeltsin and Sharon's visit to Moscow. But most possibly the direct reason behind the postponement was the persistence of the Russian side to receive Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon whose visit was coincided with President al-Assad's set visit to Moscow, especially as Sharon put on top of agenda of his talks with Russian officials the issue of resuming military cooperation between Syria and Russia.

What is also more possible is that Russia preferred to listen to Sharon instead of signing a large arms deal with President al-Assad in subjugation to US and Israeli pressures not to resume military cooperation between Moscow and Damascus.