Syria launches diplomatic restructuring under new leadership
DAMASCUS
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani has announced a restructuring of the country's diplomatic missions, following a decision to replace two pillars of ousted strongman Bashar al-Assad's foreign service.
"On the directives of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, we have begun restructuring our embassies and diplomatic missions," Shaibani said in a statement.
The move is to ensure Syria's "honorable representation... and provide outstanding services to Syrian citizens abroad", he added.
A day earlier, state news agency SANA, citing an unidentified foreign ministry official, said Shaibani had issued a decision to return the Syrian ambassadors to Russia and Saudi Arabia "to the central administration, as part of diplomatic changes that have just commenced.”
Charges d'affaires will steer the two embassies until their replacements are announced, SANA added.
Bashar Jaafari, Syria's envoy to Moscow since 2022, had also served as Damascus's representative to the United Nations.
He was known for his strong defense of the Assad government during the civil war which erupted after its brutal repression of pro-democracy protests in 2011.
Ayman Sousan, another prominent diplomat during the Assad era, was appointed in December 2023 as ambassador to Riyadh as the two governments mended a 12-year diplomatic rift since the start of the civil war.
Syria's new authorities had not previously carried out any changes to embassies since Islamist-led forces toppled Assad in December 2024, though some diplomatic missions have been accused on social media of working to tarnish the new administration's image abroad.
