Syria plans embassy restructuring after Assad era
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani announced on Tuesday a restructuring of the country's diplomatic missions, following a decision to replace two key figures in the foreign service of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.
"On the directives of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, we have begun restructuring our embassies and diplomatic missions," Shaibani said in a statement, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
The move is to ensure Syria's "honourable 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 defence of the Assad regime 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, though some diplomatic missions have been accused on social media of working to tarnish the new administration's image abroad.
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