A report by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described internal disagreements within Syria’s Foreign Ministry and the mechanism for appointing diplomats during the transitional period. It said Minister Asaad al-Shaibani had selected “unilaterally and in coordination with the Turkish side” 68 people for diplomatic posts abroad. Israel’s i24NEWS channel circulated the report’s contents, while neither Syria’s Foreign Ministry nor Ankara has issued an official comment on them.
The observatory said the list includes seven ambassadors, seven diplomatic advisers and 54 consuls. It said most of the selected names are “aligned with or close to Türkiye,” while some had previously worked at institutions of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, raising questions about the professional standards used in the appointments.
Headscarf condition and Qutaiba Idlibi’s resignation
The report said al-Shaibani nominated a Syrian woman from Homs for a diplomatic post in France. After France gave preliminary approval to the nomination, he required her to wear a headscarf, prompting reservations from the French side and leaving her appointment unresolved. The observatory also discussed the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Qutaiba Idlibi, who served as director of the American Affairs Department at Syria’s Foreign Ministry and holds U.S. citizenship. It said a dispute broke out between him and the minister during President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s most recent visit to the United States, following a private conversation between Idlibi and the president, before administrative pressure led to his resignation.
Close ties between Damascus and Ankara
These allegations come amid close ties between Syria’s new government and Türkiye, which was one of the opposition’s most prominent supporters during the war years. In January 2025, al-Shaibani visited Ankara on his first official trip to Türkiye after the fall of the Assad regime, where he was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and met with his counterpart, Hakan Fidan. Meetings between the two sides have continued since then on security, reconstruction, energy and the return of refugees.
Israel is closely monitoring Türkiye’s growing role in Syria. The United States had previously announced that it was seeking to establish a mechanism to prevent friction between Israel, Türkiye and Syria. In its report, the observatory stressed that diplomatic appointments should be based on competence and equal opportunity, بعيداً عن الاعتبارات الشخصية أو التدخلات الخارجية.
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