Franco-Syrian Relations-Current Developments & Future

Ramsha Arif

Bilateral relations between Syria and France have a long and complex history, which dates back to the French mandate (1923–1946) over the region established at the time of the Ottoman Empire’s defeat and subsequent partition at the end of World War I. In 1920, France assumed a League of Nations Mandate over Syria and Lebanon as the French troops invaded and took control of the region. During this period, France had control over educational and economic institutions that affected the lives of most Syrians. However, in August 1945, the French government transferred the command of the Syrian military to the Republic of Syria. France had an embassy in Damascus (closed down in March 2012) and a consulate general in Aleppo and Latakia, while, Syria has an embassy in Paris and consulates in Marseille and Pointe-à-Pitre. 

Despite the historical linkages between Syria and France, their relations have often been strained because of the unstable Middle Eastern politics and French foreign policies. Since the end of the Mandate, Franco-Syrian relations have experienced numerous upheavals. France has been heavily engaged with Syria and its conflict. Before the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, France had been a major supplier of weapons and equipment to Syria. The subsequent Syrian leaders had friendly ties with the French governments. However, when the Syrian refugee crisis began and Islamic bombers attacked French cities, Bashar al-Assad became France’s enemy. In the wake of the war in Syria in 2011, France, along with the US and other NATO countries, backed the anti-Assad forces providing them with money, weapons, and training.

Assad was of the view that the French deserved these bombs and attacks as French support for anti-Assad forces in the Civil War had triggered these attacks in France. Even now, France supports the separatist Kurdish forces in the oil-rich eastern parts of Syria in the name of fighting ISIS. France, in coalition with the US and other NATO countries, has also imposed several political and economic sanctions against Syria to cripple its economy and reconstruction efforts. However, international law recognizes these unilateral punitive measures as illegal and therefore, the United Nations has asked France and other such countries to withdraw them. A decade-long war and these Western sanctions have resulted in the deaths of over half a million Syrians. France has also criticized Syria’s re-induction into the Arab League. Despite France’s threats to the Arab states against such moves, most of them are determined to normalize their bilateral relations with Syria.  

Since 2011, France has insisted that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, must step down, and ever since France also backed the Syrian opposition. France was the first Western country to recognize SOC, the Syrian Opposition Coalition, based in Istanbul. Arrest warrants have been issued and many senior officials of the Syrian government have been prosecuted as France accused of committing “crimes against humanity“, including various war crimes of the Assad regime. More recently, on Wednesday, 15th November, French judges issued international arrest warrants for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and two other senior officials over the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians in the town of Douma and the district of Eastern Ghouta of Syria in August 2013, killing more than 1,000 people.

It is the first international arrest warrant that has been issued for the Syrian head of state, whose forces responded to the protests in 2011 with a brutal crackdown, amounting to war crimes according to U.N. experts Although, arrest warrants for sitting heads of state are rare because they are generally immune from prosecution. However, international law provides exceptions to that immunity when a head of state is involved in war crimes and genocide. The Syrian leader denies using chemical weapons but a previous joint inquiry of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations had found that the Syrian government has repeatedly used chlorine as a weapon.

Syria claims that French policies towards the country were “backward, isolated and detached from reality” and demands a review of its policies as people across the world have tossed out the era of colonialism and domination by the West. The world today is multi-polar, rejects inhuman and immoral economic sanctions, and endorses respect for sovereignty, independence equality of states. On the other hand, France strongly condemns Assad’s war crimes and imposes the condition that it will not have any dealings with Syria until he mends his ways as they consider the Syrian President an “enemy of his people”. French government constantly reiterates the importance of its stance against impunity but remains silent on whether the decision to bring Syria back into the Arab League would influence France’s relations with other Arab partners, particularly with Saudi Arabia.

However, both France and the European Union find themselves in an awkward position as they are also eager to maintain strong relations with the Arab League body. As of now, there is no advancement in establishing a political reconciliation process in Syria for a durable peace in the country because of which the French sanctions are still in effect. France considers a political change in the country as a basic condition for normalizing its ties with Syria.

The writer is a student of International Relations.