Indians safe in Syria, Delhi had last diplomatic engagement with Bashar al-Assad's regime a week back

According to official data, there are about 90 Indian nationals in Syria, including 14 who are working in various UN organisations.

New Delhi: India’s embassy in the capital of Syria has remained operational even as Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell and the rebels, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, wrested power in the West Asian country.

The citizens of India in Syria are safe and New Delhi’s diplomatic mission in Damascus is in touch with them. A source in New Delhi said that the embassy in Damascus remained available to help the citizens of India.

New Delhi maintained its embassy in Damascus even after the civil war in Syria started in 2011 and reached its peak. India maintained its principled position over the past 14 years, arguing for a non-military and Syrian-led process to end the civil war in Syria.

Speaking at Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday termed the developments in Syria as a new challenge in West Asia after the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon – the scenes of Israel’s offensive against Hamas and Hezbollah respectively. He discussed the situation in Syria with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on Saturday.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first prime minister of India to visit Syria after Bashar al-Assad had taken over as the president in July 2000 less after his predecessor and father Hafez al-Assad’s demise. Bashar, himself, had visited India in 2008 when the two sides had inked a bilateral investment deal, a double taxation avoidance agreement, and a pact for agricultural cooperation. The visit of Pratibha Patil, then President of India, in 2010 was the last high-level visit from New Delhi to Damascus before the civil war started.

V Muraleedharan, the minister of state for external affairs, was the last dignitary from India to meet President Bashar al-Assad during a visit to Syria in July 2023. Bashar had lauded India’s humanitarian support to Syria in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in February 2023. New Delhi had its last diplomatic engagement with Bashar’s regime in Damascus about a week back when the diplomats of the two sides reviewed the entire range of bilateral relations and discussed avenues to deepen ties in areas like pharmaceuticals and developmental partnerships, as well as capacity building.

Bashar fled Damascus on Sunday as the rebels loyal to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham chief Mohammed Al-Jolani made advances towards the capital of Syria.

The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi and the Embassy of India in Damascus had on Friday issued an advisory for the citizens of the country in the West Asian nation, asking them to leave by the earliest available commercial flights. They had also been advised to observe utmost precaution about their safety and restrict their movements to the minimum.

New Delhi had issued the travel advisory when the rebels had made substantial advances after relaunching the military offensive to take control of Damascus.

The number of citizens of India in Syria came down over the years since the uprising against the government in Damascus had led to a civil war in the West Asian nation in 2011 with the US backing the rebels, and Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah of Lebanon supporting Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Nearly 150 Indians are now left in Syria, mostly in Damascus, and they are in regular contact with the embassy, a source said in New Delhi.