Italy has appointed a new ambassador to Syria in order to ‘focus’ and ‘not give Russia a monopoly’ on the situation in this Arab country, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said today.
‘At the last Council of Ministers we appointed an ambassador to Syria,’ said Tajani, during a hearing in the Italian Parliament.
With this step, Italy becomes the first G7 country (the group of the world's seven largest economies) to reinstate its ambassador in Damascus to the regime of President Bashar al Assad, who after a long war that broke out in 2011 regained control of Syria with the support of countries like Russia and Iran.
In 2012, Italy withdrew its main diplomatic representative from the Syrian capital and suspended its diplomatic activity in the country due to what it described as ‘unacceptable violence’ on the part of Bashar al-Assad's government against Syrian citizens protesting against the regime.
According to Tajani, the Italian embassy in the Syrian capital was never closed, claiming that the chargé d'affaires present in Lebanon continued to occasionally visit the premises in Damascus.
‘With the appointment of the ambassador we want to give a signal, also to our European friends, for greater attention to Syria,’ explained the head of Italian diplomacy.
‘We have put an issue on the table that cannot be underestimated,’ added the Italian foreign minister, who also holds the rotating presidency of the G7 in 2024.
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