Syrian Transitional President, Ahmad al-Sharaa, issued a decree appointing Ibrahim Olabi as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, August 19.

The decree “14” for the current year stipulates the appointment of Olabi, to be carried out within a month starting from its issuance, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

Olabi is a legal expert who was appointed as legal adviser to the Syrian Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, and tasked with the files of chemical weapons and lifting sanctions.

The new representative holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Manchester in Britain, and has worked as an adviser to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as to the International Bar Association.

Olabi’s appointment comes as the successor to diplomat Qusay al-Dahhak, who represented Syria at the United Nations since 2023, and continued his role even after the fall of the former Syrian regime, while the decree did not refer to his fate.

Despite the presence of Assad regime ambassadors in various countries before its collapse, except for Qatar, which granted the Syrian embassy to the Syrian opposition (the current government) from the beginning of the revolution, some ambassadors were known for their fierce defense of the regime in international forums. Among the most prominent of them was al-Dahhak, evident in his statements and political activity.

Restructuring

Syrian Foreign Minister al-Shaibani announced on April 8 that the restructuring of Syrian embassies and diplomatic missions abroad had begun, under the directives of al-Sharaa.

At the time, al-Shaibani attributed this move to ensuring Syria’s “honorable” representation and providing distinguished services to Syrian citizens abroad.

This announcement also came after the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to transfer Syria’s ambassadors in Russia and Saudi Arabia back to the central administration in Damascus.

A responsible source in the Syrian Foreign Ministry said at the time that the Foreign Minister had issued a decision to recall Syria’s ambassador to Russia, Bashar Jaafari, and its ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ayman Soussan, to the central administration in Damascus, as part of the recent wave of diplomatic reshuffling, without specifying whether other diplomatic posts would be included.

The source indicated that the affairs of the embassies in Moscow and Riyadh would be managed by chargés d’affaires until official appointments are issued by the President of the Republic to name replacements in the coming period.

Anticipated speech in New York

Olabi’s appointment comes amid talk of an anticipated speech by Syrian Transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the United Nations in New York this September, according to Al-Monitor.

According to the US-based Al-Monitor, the United States is seeking to remove Syrian Transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab from the United Nations Security Council terrorism lists.

The website quoted unnamed diplomatic sources described as well-informed, on August 5, saying that Washington is pushing for the lifting of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on the Syrian president and on the now-dissolved Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.