Syria's Foreign Minister Mekdad outlines key diplomatic priorities amid regional shifts - analysis

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad discussed Syria’s current foreign policy in an interview this week with UAE-based Al Ain news site. His comments are important because Syria has recently come in from the cold in the region after years of civil war.

Syria has returned to the Arab League as part of this reconciliation between its regime and the Arab states.Things are moving quickly in the region in terms of the policies of the Arab states. Between 2014 and 2020, the region was in chaos due to the Syrian civil war and the rise and fall of ISIS. This led to the strengthening of the non-Arab regional powers: Turkey, Iran, and Israel.

Now, in 2024, as the war continues in Gaza, the Arab League is trying to get in the driver’s seat. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan  attended the 162nd meeting of the Arab League Council of Ministers this week and called for unity against Israel.

Meanwhile, Turkey and Egypt have reconciled, and this has implications because Egypt has been critical of Israel’s role in Gaza.

Mekdad is a Syrian diplomat who has been foreign minister since 2020. “Several files are in the box of Syrian diplomacy, carried on the shoulders of Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, in light of the crises that are worsening in the region and the world,” Al Ain reported.

What are the main files, or concerns, of Damascus today?

Syria is focused on the current war between Israel and Hamas. Iran backs the Syrian regime and Hamas. Iran also uses Syria to move weapons to Hezbollah. Syria is closely following developments related to Israel.

Turkey's unwanted role in Syria

“Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said... Arab countries must shoulder their responsibilities by preventing the expansion of the Israeli war, whether on Palestinian lands or outside them, noting that this matter appeared clear during the recent meeting of Arab foreign ministers to confront the dangerous developments on the Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian arenas,” Al Ain reported.

At the top of the list of these files is the future of Syrian-Turkish relations, the report said. Syria wants Turkey to leave northern Syria, which Turkey has illegally occupied over the past several years. In 2018, for instance, Turkey invaded the peaceful region of Afrin in Syria, expelling the local Kurdish population.

The Syrian foreign minister believes Ankara and Damascus can agree on an agenda, but it will require Turkey to leave Syria.

“Ankara is interested in eliminating terrorism and the return of Syrian refugees, and we add to them the withdrawal from Syrian territory and the elimination of armed organizations,” the report said.

Syria’s Mekdad left the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting when Turkey’s Fidan spoke, indicating Damascus’s opposition to Ankara’s role in Syria.

It was “a signal to the Turkish side that Damascus’s conditions for full normalization have not yet been met, the most important of which is Turkey’s withdrawal from Syrian territory,” Al Ain reported, adding that Mekdad’s decision to leave the meeting briefly was a political symbol, but it would not affect Turkey-Syria talks.

Russia, Iran, and Iraq are working with Syria and Turkey on issues of reconciliation. Iran and Russia back Damascus. Iraq was key to Iran-Saudi normalization, which was brokered by China last year.

“Mediators carried a message about the necessity of withdrawing from northern Syria before talking about sitting at one table,” the report said. It quoted the secretary-general of the Arab League as saying: “The Arab foreign ministers decided in their consultative meeting to postpone all political issues related to the operations of the Arab League, exceptionally for one time until next March, to give an opportunity to focus on an intensive discussion on Palestine.”Meanwhile, Syria is working on improving its ties with the Gulf states. The Syrian delegation to the Arab League met with its Emirati counterparts, the report said.

In the interview with Al Ain, Syria’s Mekdad discussed the region and the current concerns in Damascus about escalation.

He “explained that the meetings in which Syria participates always emphasize the need to unify positions to confront challenges and threats, especially after the revelation of Western, American, and Israeli intentions towards the region,” the report said.