It has been revealed that India will continue its involvement in the rebuilding of Syria following the country's devastating civil war.
The Indian Minister of External Affairs, V. Muraleedharan, held a meeting last week with Syrian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Dr. Faisal Mekdad, in which it was confirmed that India will continue to provide financial and structural aid to the war-ravaged state.
In 2016, India opened a $265 million line of credit to help rebuild Syria's vital steel and power sectors and, since 2011, India has provided $12 million in humanitarian assistance. Last year India also offered free university places to 1,000 Syrian student, that included places on undergraduate, postgraduate and phD programs.
The move comes as tensions rise between India and Turkey, Syria's northern neighbour. It was revealed last month by an Indian security source that the Indian state believes Erdogan is financing Islamic extremist groups both in Syria and in the Asian subcontinent, which India fears will be used as a by-proxy to attack India itself. Turkish president, Recep Erdogan, and his increasingly hard line Islamic stance, has seen him attempt to gain the favour of extremist Muslims living both in India and Pakistan. India hopes that working with Syria will give them an ally in the region and intelligence in fighting Islamic extremists at home.
Syria will also see the Indian assistance and alliance as a way to push back Turkish aggression in the north of their country. Turkey invaded northern Syria in 2019 in what it claimed was a move against Kurdish separatist groups. After a deal was struck with Russia Turkey began withdrawing from the region but still maintains some forces in the area.
India has long held a position of international non-alignment, meaning that it does not take sides in international or domestic conflicts, this move in Syria is one of the first international observers have noted of India moving away from that historic position.
The Syrian Civil War was the most devastating internal conflict of the 21st century. Fought among multiple different groups, many seeking to overthrow the Bashar Al-Assad regime, the war cost the lives of over half a million people and displaced as many as 7 million. Many of whom found themselves as refugees in Turkey and Europe. After years of fighting, and Russian intervention on the side of the ruling regime, the rebels, including many Islamic extremist groups such as ISIS, were beaten back. A level of normalcy has now entered the country, however many of the refugees who are opponents of the regime now see no way back to their homeland.
The EU estimates that it will cost Syria $245 billion to rebuild its economy.
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