DAMASCUS: Syria’s decision to accept Iraqi refugees streaming into the country has brought the government of President Bashar Assad more power within Syria and the region, but at significant cost.

The ministry of interior in Syria estimates the total number of Iraqi refugees to be around 1.5 million.

The Syrian government has maintained an “open door” policy towards Iraqi refugees, unlike neighbouring Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait who have been far less welcoming.

This appears to have earned Assad renewed political power within his country. That position, topping his strong stance against US policy in Iraq, has won him support in the wider Arab world as well.

The new support seems to be holding so far despite the negative aspects of the refugee crisis such as homelessness, inflation, unemployment and a huge shift in the social dynamics in the country.

“The Syrian government is becoming more powerful because they are helping the Iraqis by allowing them refuge here in a way that other countries did not,” Hassan Maho, a 33-year-old jeweller told in an interview. “Politically, the government of Bashar Assad now has more power than these other countries in the region.”

Mazen, a 31-year-old trader in downtown Damascus, believes Syria has gained from a failed US policy in Iraq. “The American policy in Iraq is making Syria more powerful,” he said.

—Dawn/The IPS News Service