NATO’s potentially constructive role in Syria

More than two decades after the launch of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, NATO and its partners are assessing the progress they have made and looking for new ways to solidify their partnership and encourage new members to join.
To attract new partners, NATO needs to become more relevant to the region’s concerns. One of those concerns is the fragile situation in Syria, and NATO is well suited to play an effective role there. Success in the country will have positive spillover effects throughout the region.
NATO has taken a number of steps to strengthen its ties to the region. At its Vilnius summit in 2023, the organization launched a comprehensive reflection on threats, challenges, and opportunities in the South.
At its 2024 summit in Washington, during which NATO celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding in 1949, it went further by adding more depth and a wider scope to its southern neighborhood policy, to “foster greater security and stability in the Middle East and Africa, contributing to peace and prosperity in the region.” It adopted an action plan for a “stronger, more strategic and result-oriented approach” toward its southern neighbors, and said this would be regularly updated.
To implement this more active approach, NATO’s secretary-general appointed a special representative for the southern neighborhood, who serves as the organization’s focal point for the region. It said this would “reinforce our dialogue, outreach, visibility and our existing instruments for cooperation, such as the Defense Capacity Building Initiative, the Hub for the South and the NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Regional Center in Kuwait.” As part of this focus, NATO opened a liaison office in Amman and broadened the scope of its cooperation with Iraq’s security institutions, building on the efforts of its mission in Iraq.
The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative was established in 2004 during NATO’s summit in the Turkish city, hence the name, to “promote security cooperation on a bilateral basis between NATO and partner countries in the broader Middle East region.”
In 2017, the organization established a regional center in Kuwait to coordinate Istanbul Cooperation Initiative activities, including training, capacity building, defense planning, defense budgeting, combating terrorism, and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Four Gulf Cooperation Council member states have joined the initiative, and others take part in some of its activities without joining. Despite its name, Turkiye is not a member of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.
Most countries around the world have welcomed the new government in Syria, which appears determined to restore peace and security internally and play a positive role regionally. It is working to reestablish the rule of law in most parts of the country, and disband unlawful armed groups or integrate them into formal security forces with clear controls and chains of command. It has cracked down on drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and other malign activities that were quite common under the previous Assad regime.
However, the new authority in Damascus faces formidable challenges which NATO is well positioned to help, starting with restoration of government authority throughout Syria. The challenge in the northeastern part of the country is complicated by the presence of Turkish and American forces, who support opposing sides in that region. Replacing them with a neutral force, such as NATO, should be acceptable to Turkiye and the US, both of whom are key members of the alliance.
A NATO deployment would have to be negotiated with Damascus, which might consider this solution better than the current chaos in which the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main militia for Syrian Kurds, is reluctant to allow government forces into the area, while Turkish-Kurdish group PKK roams freely there, causing understandable security anxieties for Ankara. 

The security apparatus in Syria needs to be restructured along new principles.

Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg

There is mutual mistrust between Turkiye and the Syrian Democratic Forces, whose tolerance of the PKK presence has caused tensions between Ankara and Washington, the SDF’s patron. Damascus might find that a NATO presence would make it easier to implement agreements with the SDF on integrating northeastern Syria with the rest of the country, and the militia with the Syrian Armed Forces.
The SDF might also welcome NATO’s role in the face of uncertainty regarding the continued American presence in the area.
Fighting terrorism is the second challenge with which NATO could help. It could coordinate counterterrorism efforts in the area, which is one of the main areas cited by the organization for its engagement with the wider Middle East region.
Concerns about a resurgence of Daesh are shared by most countries, and the new Syrian government appears determined to prevent this from happening. Stopping Daesh from regrouping is the main reason for the presence of US troops in the area and is also cited by the SDF as one of its main functions, together with guarding camps holding former Daesh fighters and their families.
The Global Coalition Against Daesh is obviously there as well but it needs support. NATO could help pave the way for the Syrian government to take on the job of fighting terrorism and guarding the camps until the fate of their inhabitants is decided.
The third way in which NATO can provide assistance is by helping the new government to rebuild Syria’s security forces. They need training and equipment. Gulf Cooperation Council countries have started this process and NATO could help recruits acquire the skills they need, building on the organization’s long experience in this area.
Capacity building is one of the main functions of NATO and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. In the case of Syria, which has experienced decades of despotic rule during which security forces were trained to violate the human rights of citizens, killing hundreds of thousands of innocents and jailing and torturing others for exercising their basic rights of freedom of expression and association. The security apparatus in Syria needs to be restructured along new principles. NATO could help with this.
The organization is gearing up for its annual summit next month in the Hague. The issue of enhanced engagement with the Middle East is likely to be on the agenda, although the uncertainty about US President Donald Trump’s approach to the organization will likely dominate discussions, given the testy relationship NATO had with him during his first term.
Experts expect both sides to be more realistic this time around, however, insofar as NATO members have accepted that they need to up their defense spending, while the Trump administration appreciates the useful role the organization fulfills.
Washington might find it is to its advantage that NATO plays a greater role in the Middle East, including Syria. This would be another example of the burden sharing that Trump is keen on. His administration has already been engaged with the Syrian government and given it a list of asks, including efforts to fight terrorism and destroy chemical weapons. NATO could engage with Damascus and help it deal with such demands.

• Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the GCC’s assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the GCC.
X: @abuhamad1