Rome wants to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolising diplomatic efforts, a move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.
ADVERTISEMENTItaly plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees on Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria.
Tajani said the move was to prevent Russia from monopolising diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.
The announcement also follows Wednesday's meeting between Russia's President Vladimir Putin and the isolated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Moscow.
Putin told al-Assad he was concerned that tensions were rising in the Middle East, according to the Kremlin.
Moscow is considered a key supporter of Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.
Peaceful protests against the Assad government, part of the Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East, were met with a severe crackdown, leading the uprising to quickly escalate into a full-blown civil war.
The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then by the so-called Islamic State, until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.
The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.
The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups, and Syrian Kurdish forces.
In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.
However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighbouring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.
Tajani said that the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus, and Slovakia.
However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government due to concerns over human rights violations.