Syrian diplomat who defected from Assad makes triumphant return to Damascus

Ayham Al Ghazzy quit post in Argentina in 2013 but is one of 25 who will soon be rehired

Ayham Al Ghazzy, centre, returned to the Foreign Ministry in Damascus last month. The National

On a rainy day in July 2013, Syrian diplomat Ayham Al Ghazzy shut off his phone as he left work at his country’s embassy in Buenos Aires for the last time. It was the beginning of his defection from the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad and he wanted to minimise the chances of being traced.

In the years that followed, Mr Al Ghazzy worked in marketing for IBM in Argentina and in Bahrain, as a political researcher in Jordan, taught diplomatic protocol and even opened a consulting company in the UAE to teach skills such as shorthand. He also advised the Syrian opposition during what turned out to be fruitless UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva.

His exile, however, ended symbolically last month, when he and some of his comrades received a hero’s welcome at the Foreign Ministry in Damascus under the new government of President Ahmad Al Shara, whose Hayat Tahrir Al Sham forces ended Assad family rule last December.

Mr Al Ghazzy is one of 25 defected diplomats who have been reinstated by the ministry, which is setting about rebuilding Syria's foreign ties but struggling to replace staff seen as loyalists to the former regime. A band of drummers greeted the group at the door of the ministry, while traditional folk songs were sung.

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani welcomes the group of returning diplomats back to Damascus. Photo: Sana

“They decided to honour us,” said Mr Al Ghazzy, who expects most of the 25 to be employed in missions outside Syria. “I think that we have proven our expertise in the law, in administration, as well as having contacts abroad and the know-how to address foreign governments.”

The group is a sizeable addition to the ranks of Syrian diplomats. Unlike many of those who have joined the Al Shara government, most of the 25 are not aligned ideologically with HTS, the militant group whose commanders are now holding the levers of power.

Asaad Al Shibani, who was one of the most senior members of HTS, now serves as Foreign Minister. Receiving the diplomats on November 4, Mr Al Shibani, a confidant of Mr Al Shara, told them they form a part of "Syria’s history of dignity", and will now help the country “engage with the world” after many years as an international pariah after Al Assad's crackdown on the revolt against the government in 2011.

Mr Al Shibani “is willing to listen, takes into consideration new ideas and appreciates the technical expertise of the former defectors, regardless of their ideology”, Mr Al Ghazzy said by phone from Dubai.

In a gesture of appreciation, the ministry has calculated many of the diplomats’ lost years of service and promoted them accordingly, as if they had never left. Mr Al Ghazzy will be given the level of counsellor, an upgrade from his attache position in Argentina, when he officially rejoins the Syrian service early next year.

Most of the 25 will be stationed abroad, where they are “most needed", he said. They may spend some time at the ministry before being assigned abroad, said Mr Al Ghazzy, who will move back to Syria permanently early next year.

Ayham Al Ghazzy, right, at a conference on Syria's future in Brussels in 2014. Photo: Ayham Al Ghazzy

A total of 50 diplomats defected after the revolt in March 2011, which turned into civil war by the end of that year, after a crackdown by the former regime. The remaining 25 either grew too old or found jobs elsewhere. Those who have been rehired had also actively supported the revolt and defected out of principle, not “because they saw the regime’s boat sinking”, said Mr Al Ghazzy.

Before he went to Buenos Aires in 2012, Mr Al Ghazzy worked in the office of former Syrian vice president Farouk Al Shara, a regime stalwart and a former foreign minister who nonetheless opposed what was called “the security solution” to crush the protest movement that was demanding the removal of Assad family rule.

Mr Al Ghazzy admired the diplomatic skills of Farouk Al Shara (no relation to the current President) and supported him in his efforts to start a dialogue between the regime and the demonstrators. However, that Mr Al Shara was placed under house arrest before he was sacked in July 2013. At the same time, pressure grew on Mr Al Ghazzy to return to Damascus.

“The writing was on the wall for me. I had to defect,” said Mr Al Ghazzy, who had moved his family a year earlier from Damascus to Amman, anticipating that his support for a peaceful outcome would cost him dearly.