Algeria’s erratic diplomacy at play in Syria

Less than two months was enough for a volt-face of the Algerian regime on the transition authority in Syria, where it dispatched its ambivalent foreign affairs minister in an act of repentance.

Algiers has backed the bloody Syrian regime of Bashar Al Assad to the bitter end, while describing the HTS of current president Ahmed al-Sharaa as terrorist.

The same Algerian foreign minister, Ahmed Attaf, who said Algeria “does not recognize governments but recognizes states,” in an answer to a reporter’s question on whether Algiers will recognize the transitional authority led by al-Sharaa, hurried to Damascus to hand a letter from president Tebboune to Syria’s new ruler.

Two months ago, Attaf’s ministry expressed full support for Bashar’s regime, while denouncing HTS advance as a “terrorist threat”, according to an Algerian foreign ministry statement on Dec 3.

Algeria has once again stood on the wrong side of history as it remained a staunch ally of Bashar Al Assad, rejecting to cut ties with Damascus as millions of Syrians endured war crimes by Bashar’s soldiers, while defending the return of the Syrian regime to the Arab league.

Even after the fall of Bashar, Syrians across the world hoisted the green, white and black flags of new Syria, except in Algeria, where the regime bans all sorts of protest in solidarity with Arab peoples, including Palestinians.

Unverified media reports mentioned that Attaf’s trip to Damascus was rather an attempt to negotiate the release of Algerian and Polisario armed men who fought alongside Bashar’s regime. A request that was reportedly rejected by Al-Sharaa, who insisted on a fair trial of all those involved in war crimes against the Syrian people.

Syria is thus a new episode in the inconsistencies of the Algerian diplomacy. This new Algerian debacle adds to the failure to join BRICS, worsening ties with almost all neighbors to the exception of like-minded Tunisia and faltering ties with both Russia and the West.