Ukraine FM In Damascus: Two Countries Which Have Halted Elections Indefinitely Find Commonality 

International media sources are calling it one of the most consequential foreign visits to Damascus since the fall of Assad: a Ukrainian delegation led by Zelensky’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha met with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Damascus on Monday. 

Syria’s newly appointed foreign minister under Jolani, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, told the Ukrainian FM that he hopes for a strong “strategic partnership” with the new Syria. Ukraine was reportedly key in helping the jihadist group HTS, a US-designated terror organization, storm across Syria in the days leading up to December 8 in the first place. 

Kiev had provided drone and intelligence support for months to the Idlib-based militants, who are al-Qaeda linked. Ukrainian officials had previously openly boasted that they would assist in hitting Russian assets and bases in Syria, in order to bog its forces down there and distract the top Russian command from the Ukrainian front lines.

Small drone warfare has been described by many analysts to have been a key component further demoralizing Syrian Army positions after Assad’s military and state institutions had been essentially hollowed out after years of grinding war and crippling Western sanctions.

“Certainly the Syrian people and the Ukrainian people have the same experience and the same suffering that we endured over 14 years,” HTS’ al-Shibani said in the Monday meeting.

“We look forward to mutual recognition of the sovereignty of the two countries so that we can complete diplomatic representation in Syria,” Sybiha added, addressing a press conference after the meeting. “We believe Ukrainian-Syrian relations will witness great development.”

Ukraine just prior to the weekend had dispatched 500 tonnes of food aid to Syria, which had long been suffering under US-led sanctions and a war-ravaged economy.

“Ukraine will remain a linchpin to food security in Syria, even if our country is engaged in a war,” Ukraine’s Sybiha declared. He took the opportunity to blast Moscow, which could lose its two major coastal Syrian bases as a result of Assad’s fall: 

“The Russian and Assad regimes supported each other because they were based on violence and torture,” Sybiha said, according to a statement.

“We believe that from a strategic point of view, the removal of Russia’s presence in Syria will contribute to the stability of not only the Syrian state but the entire Middle East and Africa.”

But interestingly, both Jolani and Zelensky have something else in common: they have both suspended elections for a period of at least years, citing the need for a wartime transition before a democratic process can be enacted. 

The Ukrainian top diplomat also met with HTS chief Abu Mohammad al-Julani…

The first official Ukrainian delegation arrives in Syria Ukraine Syria pic.twitter.com/tFLbeD2dRU

— سهيل أبو التاوو (@suheilhammoud) December 30, 2024

Jolani over the weekend gave a fresh interview interview with Al-Arabiya in which he made clear that he doesn’t expect elections to be held for up to four years. He also stated that writing a constitution for the new Syria will take three years. Perhaps he’s taking Zelensky’s martial law suspension of elections (and the West’s tacit backing of this move) as his example?