India on Monday (December 9, 2024) called for a peaceful and inclusive political process in Syria to find a resolution to the dramatic turn of events after President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia and rebel forces claimed control of the capital, Damascus.
The events took New Delhi by surprise, given that the Ministry of External Affairs had hosted Foreign Office Consultations with Syrian officials less than a fortnight ago.
As the MEA issued its first formal reaction to the end of the 50-year-long Assad family rule, which India has historically had close ties with, experts warned that New Delhi must watch for the spillover effects of the Syrian regime-change across West Asia.
“We are monitoring the situation in Syria in the light of on-going developments,” the MEA said in a statement, calling for all parties in the country to “work towards preserving the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria”.
“We advocate a peaceful and inclusive Syrian-led political process respecting the interests and aspirations of all sections of Syrian society,” the MEA added, given rising concerns that the new regime in Syria may target minorities, including the Alawites, Druze, Kurds, and Christians. On December 6, India had issued an advisory telling Indians to avoid travel to the country.
Mr. Assad’s ouster came as armed fighters belonging to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), originally set up in 2011 as the al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra group, led by Saudi Arabia-born rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, captured Aleppo, Homs, and Hama, eventually overrunning Damascus city on Saturday.
On Sunday, Mr. Jolani, dressed in battle fatigues, entered the 1,300-year-old Umayyad mosque in the centre of the city, vowing that the changes would write a “new history for the region”. He accused the Assad regime of allowing Iran to dominate the country.
“For India, Syria has been a keystone of the regional architecture, and any abrupt and fundamental change in its internal polity is bound to have a seismic impact in the region,” said Gautam Mukhopadhaya at the Centre for Policy Research.
Mr. Mukhopadhaya, a former Ambassador to Syria, said India must pay close attention to events both inside Syria and its borders with Israel, Turkiye, and Iraq.
“Any instability radiating from Syria will affect everything in the Gulf region that is important for India, from energy security, to trade and business, to the fate of Indian nationals employed in the region, especially if Israel takes its offensive towards Iran,” he added.
According to Mr. Mukhopadhaya, the collapse of the Syrian Army in the past few days had been even more unexpected than what happened in Afghanistan, where the Taliban claimed power in 2021.
Significantly, India and Syria had held their sixth round of Foreign Office Consultations in New Delhi on November 29.
Delegations led by the MEA Joint Secretary and the Syrian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates had discussed bilateral cooperation with special focus on pharmaceuticals, developmental partnership, and capacity building.
“India and Syria enjoy warm and friendly relations based on historic and civilizational ties. India has been a keen developmental partner for Syria and is also actively involved in capacity building of the Syrian youth,” the MEA release had said, without any mention of the developments in Syria.
Experts say that for decades, Syria was also seen as one of a number of “Arab nationalist” or “Pan-Arabist” states like Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and Libya in the region that were secular republics which were authoritarian but more liberal on the rights of minorities and women.
India and Syria were both non-aligned states and New Delhi had appreciated the Assad regime’s consistent stand on the Jammu Kashmir dispute, calling it an “internal matter”.
Mr. Assad had made a state visit in 2008, after which India was awarded a number of contracts, including for a power project in Tishreen and the modernisation of an iron and steel plant in Hama. In 2016, India even made a unique joint investment with a Chinese company, CNPC Al Furat Petroleum Company (AFPC).
However, since the growth of the resistance against the Assad regime, which has been accused of massive human rights abuses and torture across the country, and then the rise of militant Islamist groups since 2011, Indian operations in Syria have been largely paused, while trade declined to about $100 million last year.
Published - December 09, 2024 10:30 pm IST
