Indian delegation in Syria: First diplomatic visit since Al Sharaa toppled Assad regime

For the first time since the opposition forces ousted Syria’s longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last year, India has sent a delegation to hold talks with the country’s new administration led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, a Turkey-supported Islamist leader who once headed a branch of Al-Qaeda.

Last year, opposition forces led by Sharaa’s Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) escalated their offensive in November. Within weeks, they reached the capital of Damascus, capturing it on December 8 and forcing Assad to flee.

While there was no word from India on the meeting in Damascus, Syria’s foreign ministry confirmed the meeting between Suresh Kumar, the Director of the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) Division at the Ministry of External Affairs, and Syrian foreign minister Asaad Hassan Al-Sheibani.

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“The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Mr Asaad Hassan Al-Sheibani, received in the capital Damascus an Indian delegation headed by Mr Suresh Kumar, Director of the West Asia and North Africa Department at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. The meeting addressed issues of common interest and ways to enhance relations between the two countries in a manner that serves the interests of both peoples,” said the Syrian foreign ministry in a statement on X.

There have been concerns about the new administration in Syria, owing to the jihadist past of its leader and group —the HTS— that he runs. Moreover, Sharaa’s principal supporter, Turkey, has pursued an overtly anti-India agenda lately, supporting Pakistan not just diplomatically but also militarily.

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‘A beginning had to be made’

While there was no official word, a person familiar with the matter told Hindustan Times that India sent a delegation as “a beginning had to be made” at some point about a bilateral relationship with the new Syrian administration.

“A beginning had to be made and India had to register its presence. You have to open the door at some point,” the person said on condition of anonymity.

With Assad, India had a comfortable relationship and Assad sided with India even on the issue of Kashmir on international platforms. India also regularly sent humanitarian support to Syria. Notably, India never closed the embassy in Damascus even as a civil war raged in the country.

In the meeting with Kumar, Syrian foreign minister Sheibani “dealt with issues of mutual concern and ways of enhancing relations between the two countries in the interests of both peoples”, according to Syria’s state-owned SANA news agency.

Beside the foreign minister, Kumar also met Syrian health minister Musab Al-Ali and the two sides discussed ways of enhancing health cooperation, particularly in the pharmaceutical industries and medical training fields, as per the news agency.

The two sides discussed mechanism for implementing a scholarship for Syrian students, in addition to allocating a specialised engineering cooperation programme for government employees, the agency reported.

Al-Ali said that Syria aspired to establish a “strong partnership with India in the pharmaceutical industries and health technologies, which would contribute to supporting the national health sector and providing medicines”, the agency reported.

On his part, Kumar said that India will continue to fund specialised training courses for Syrian personnel, coordinate the training of Syrian doctors in Indian centers, and enhance cooperation in the fields of nursing, pharmaceutical industries, and pharmaceutical exports, the agency reported.