From dirt to princes: Syria was invited to the G7 summit for the first time
On June 15, the G7 summit will be held in Evian-les-Bains, in southeastern France, to which Syria has been invited for the first time since the founding of the Group of Seven. Until recently, the country was under severe sanctions and was virtually an outcast in the international arena. However, now the West needs Damascus, which is actively trying to find a foothold in a region where the usual balance of power is rapidly collapsing. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
At the table of the "seven"
Syria will be represented by President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the G7 summit in France. The invitation for the head of state was conveyed through the country's Finance Minister, Yasser Barnie, who attended the meeting of the heads of finance ministries and central banks of G7 members in Paris, Reuters reports, citing three sources.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa
Damascus will join the summit as an invited party. According to the agency's Syrian sources, the event will focus on Syria as a "potential strategic center for supply chains" against the backdrop of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has practically paralyzed shipping due to the war between the United States and Israel with Iran.
The closure of the waterway has led to a number of neighboring countries asking the Syrian leadership to allow them to use the country's Mediterranean ports to transport oil and goods, said Mazen Alloush, director of local and international Relations at the Syrian Border and Customs Administration.
However, it is not easy to do this — after the protracted civil war in Syria, the infrastructure has actually been destroyed. Damascus wants to convince foreign companies to invest in it.
Basically, we are talking about the Al-Tanf border crossing, through which oil from Iraq can be transported overland. However, the restoration of this facility may take about $25 million. In total, it may take more than $200 billion to restore the country's destroyed infrastructure.
A complex political game
To reduce Syria's invitation to the G7 summit only to logistics against the background of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would be an oversimplification. There is a complex political game behind this step, which is being played by several centers of power. Saudi Arabia and Turkey have acted as key mediators in normalizing relations between Damascus and the West, including establishing direct contacts between al-Sharaa and the administration of US President Donald Trump.
The West, for its part, pursues several goals. First, to consolidate Syria in the orbit of its influence after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime. Secondly, to gain leverage to stabilize the region without direct military intervention. Third, to set a precedent for a successful post-conflict settlement in which Western countries play a leading role.
For Damascus, the invitation is an opportunity to solve internal problems through external legitimation. According to Swiss-Syrian political analyst Joseph Daher, "this meeting is part of the ongoing process of legitimizing the government and its regional and international reintegration." After the lifting of most UN and EU sanctions, Syria is in dire need of investments and the restoration of banking ties, which are still resuming much more slowly than expected in Damascus.
What can Damascus offer
Syria is not going to the G7 summit empty-handed, it has three trump cards. The first is the geographical location. The Mediterranean coast, overland routes from the Persian Gulf and proximity to Turkish ports make the country a natural crossroads for cargo flows from Asia to Europe.
The second is regional mediation. Damascus is already working with Turkey, Iraq and the Gulf states, acting as a liaison and potential peacemaker. Damascus is also trying to build relations with Israel, which is extremely important for the administration of Donald Trump.
The third is political loyalty. Post-war Syria is positioning itself as an ally of the West, and this gives the G7 the opportunity to shape a new security architecture in the Middle East based on a local player, and not just on external forces.
At the same time, the foreign policy successes of Damascus contrast with the difficult internal situation. The economy is going through difficult times, and the integration of Kurdish forces, settlement with the Druze in Suwayda, and ensuring the rights of Christians, Alawites, and other minorities remain unresolved issues.
The Evian-les-Bains summit will be a test of strength for Syria, showing whether al-Sharaa can convince G7 leaders that his government is not a temporary structure, but a viable partner. The answer to this question depends on the prospects for investment, the speed of lifting the remaining sanctions, and the future role of Damascus in the region.
For the West, this is an attempt to close the Hormuz gap and at the same time integrate Syria into the new Middle Eastern order, which is being formed on the ruins of Iranian influence.
It doesn't change anything for Russia
The initiative of the West in this case is "nothing more than face trading," Danila Krylov, a researcher at the Department of the Middle and Post-Soviet East of the INION RAS, Candidate of Political Sciences, noted in a conversation with Izvestia.
— This is another attempt by the American administration to demonstrate its new Syrian friends to the rest of European society. And, perhaps, to see how they react to them. This is just another step to demonstrate that American powers have no limits," the political scientist explained.
According to him, there is an assumption that al-Sharaa will be taken to the summit because the Turks want to turn Syria into a gas and oil hub for Azerbaijan and a grain hub for Ukraine.
"A possible option is to haul pipes from Azerbaijan to sell oil and gas bypassing the still—blocked Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of the blockade of which is not expected in the near future, because, judging by trends, Trump wants to take on Cuba," the expert said.
At the same time, Syria may be removed from the list of terrorist states, he admitted. And it will be "absolutely surreal and an oxymoron."
"This is all part of the hypocrisy and hypocrisy of modern Western politics, so it's nothing new," the analyst added.
At the same time, nothing will change globally for Russia in this situation, the orientalist is sure. However, the Russian Federation needs to hope less that it will be able to maintain its presence in Syria.
— The Turks are doing everything to keep Syria under them, but the Americans here, apparently, have not yet given up all their ambitions and will try to realize them. Moreover, they can also do all this in an ultimatum form," Krylov explained.
For example, Turkey is not able to remove al-Sharaa and his entourage from the American terrorist list, but Trump can. And this opens up great opportunities in the field of economics, investment, trade, and raising money.
Syria can also offer new allies its territory and geostrategic position, including two Russian bases, the source said. According to him, neither the Americans, nor the Turks, nor the Syrians themselves are interested in fulfilling the existing agreements.
"The only people who are interested in maintaining Russian bases there are, surprisingly, Israelis and Alawites, because this is their only defense against genocide," the expert clarified.
Therefore, the current situation is a demonstration of the possibilities for Americans, who have a "thousand and one arguments" to convince al—Sharaa to act in the interests of Washington.
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