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DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syria will forge a “strategic partnership” with Ukraine, its new foreign minister told his Ukrainian counterpart, as Kiev moves to forge ties with the new Islamist rulers in Damascus as Russia’s influence declines.
Russia has been a staunch ally of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and has given him political asylum. Moscow has said it is dealing with the new administration in Damascus, including the fate of Russian military facilities in Syria.
“There will be a strategic partnership between us and Ukraine on the political, economic and social levels, as well as scientific partnership,” Syria’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Assad Hassan al-Shibani told Ukraine’s Andriy Sibiha.
“Certainly, the people of Syria and the people of Ukraine have the same suffering and pain that we’ve had for 14 years,” he added, drawing parallels between Syria’s brutal 2011-24 civil war and Russia’s annexation of Ukraine. – Dimension 2022 Invasion.
Sibiha, who met with new Syrian governor Ahmed al-Shara in Damascus on Monday, said Ukraine would send more food aid to Syria after 20 shipments of flour were expected to arrive on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced last Friday that in cooperation with the United Nations World Food Program, Ukraine’s first level of food aid, consisting of 500 metric tons of wheat flour, was sent to Syria as part of Kyiv’s humanitarian aid.
Russian influence squeezed
Ukraine, a global producer and exporter of grains and oilseeds, traditionally exports wheat and corn to Middle Eastern countries, but not to Syria, which has been importing food from Russia under Assad.
Russian and Syrian sources told Reuters in early December that Russian wheat supplies to Syria had been suspended because of uncertainty about the new government in Damascus and payment delays. Russia supplied wheat to Syria using complex financial and logistical arrangements to circumvent Western sanctions against Moscow and Damascus.
The ousting of Assad by the al-Sharia Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has called into question the future of Russia’s military bases in Syria – the Himimim airfield in Latakia and the Tartus naval facility.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the status of Russian military bases will be negotiated with the new leadership in Damascus.
Al-Shara said this month that Syria’s relationship with Russia must protect mutual interests. In an interview on Sunday, he said Syria shares strategic interests with Russia, striking a conciliatory tone, though he did not elaborate.
