Syria continues its efforts to strengthen its ties with various international organizations. In the last week, the country has taken part in a military exercise in Turkey and has been invited to the G7 meeting in Paris. In addition, Syria has pursued new initiatives on international human rights issues and works with the World Health Organization. The concept is to bring Syria into many key international organizations and to increase the country’s stability and investment opportunities.
The G7 summit in France will be important. It takes place in June, and, according to Reuters, “Syria will attend the G7 summit in France next month as a guest nation and be represented by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, three sources familiar with the matter said, marking Syria's first participation in a summit of the group since the forum was founded in 1975.”
An invitation was sent to Syria’s president, "hand-delivered to Syrian Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh, who attended the group's financial talks earlier this week in Paris, one of the sources said.”
In addition, Syria was involved in a recent military exercise in Turkey. This is important because Syria wants to demonstrate that its new armed forces are ready to conduct joint exercises with NATO powers, which include Turkey, a member of NATO that has a large and powerful army.
Syria “joined military exercises outside the country for the first time since the fall of the Assad government, taking part alongside troops from 50 countries in Turkey's large-scale EFES 2026 drills as Ankara deepens its role in rebuilding Syria's military institutions,” the New Arab noted. “The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that a Syrian army unit was participating in the exercises in western Turkey as part of Ankara’s support for Syria’s reconstruction process.”
Syria continues outreach into global institutions
Meanwhile, Syria has also continued outreach to other important institutions. Syria’s SANA state media said on May 23 that “the Executive Director of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Hadi bin Ali al-Yam, said the recent visit of OIC to Syria has created new opportunities for cooperation and coordination between OIC institutions and the Syrian Arab Republic.”
In addition, the Sharaa government is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross on the “Global Initiative to Galvanize Political Commitment to International Humanitarian Law.” A report at SANA added that “the step reflects the commitment of the new Syria to strengthen its responsible and active engagement in the international system and to consolidate respect for the principles of international law and international humanitarian law.”
“This decision comes in fulfillment of the sacrifices and humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people, which was a direct result of the grave and systematic violations committed by the deposed regime against the Syrian people. It embodies the approach of the new Syria, which is based on respect for international law to translate this commitment into practical steps and effective diplomatic efforts,” Syria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Finally, Syria’s Health Minister Musab al-Ali met Friday with World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The meeting took place in Geneva during the 79th World Health Assembly at the UN headquarters, according to Syria’s Health Ministry,” SANA noted.