The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Syria was the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's foremost

diplomatic representative Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, and head of the UK's

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. The official title was ''His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic''. In February 2012 all diplomatic staff were withdrawn from the British Embassy in Damascus and its services were suspended. There is now no ambassador. The UK appoints a "Special Envoy to Syria"; the present incumbent is the head of the Near East Department at the

Foreign & Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign ...

in London.

Heads of mission

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Syrian and Lebanese Republics

*1942–1944:

Edward Spears Major-General Sir Edward Louis Spears, 1st Baronet, (7 August 1886 – 27 January 1974) was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament noted for his role as a liaison officer between British and French forces in two world wars. Spears was a ...

*1944–1946: Terence Shone

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Damascus

*1947:

Patrick Scrivener Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

*1947–1950:

Philip Broadmead Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

*1950–1952: William Montagu-Pollock

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Syrian Arab Republic

*1952–1953: William Montagu-Pollock *1953–1957: John Gardener *1958–1961: ''Syria joined with Egypt in the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...

'' *1962–1964:

Thomas Bromley Sir Thomas Bromley (153011 April 1587) was a 16th-century lawyer, judge and politician who established himself in the mid-Tudor period and rose to prominence during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth I. He was successively Solicito ...

*1964–1967: Trefor Evans *1967–1973: ''Diplomatic relations broken off due to the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

'' *1973–1976:

David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...

*1976–1979: James Craig *1979–1981: Patrick Wright *1982–1984:

Ivor Lucas Ivor is an English masculine given name derived either directly from the Norse ''Ívarr'', or from Welsh (which spells it ''Ifor''), Irish (sometimes ''Ibar''), or Scottish, all of which likely derive it also from the original Norse form.The Oxford ...

*1984–1986:

Roger Tomkys Sir (William) Roger Tomkys , (born 15 March 1937) is a retired British diplomat, and former Master of Pembroke College, at the University of Cambridge. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and graduated from Balliol College, Oxford in 196 ...

*1986–1991: ''Diplomatic relations broken off following the

Hindawi affair The Hindawi affair was a failed attempt to bomb El Al Flight 016, from London to Tel Aviv in April 1986 by Nezar Nawwaf al-Mansur al-Hindawi ( ar, نزار نواف منصور الهنداوي, born 1954), a Jordanian citizen. On the morning of ...

'' *1991–1994: Andrew Green *1994–1996:

Adrian Sindall Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...

*1996–2000:

Basil Eastwood Basil Stephen Talbot Eastwood CMG (born 4 March 1944) is a retired British diplomat. Early life Eastwood was educated at Eton College (from 1957 until 1962) and Merton College, Oxford, where he studied history, and, later, Arabic. Career Eastwo ...

*2000–2003:

Henry Hogger Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portuga ...

*2003–2006: Peter Ford *2006–2007: John Jenkins *2007–2012:

Simon Collis Simon Paul Collis, (23 February 1956) is a former British ambassador to several Middle Eastern countries before retiring from diplomatic service in February 2020. Biography Collis was educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield, from 1967 u ...

*2012: ''Ambassador withdrawn – embassy closed''

UK Special Envoy to Syria

*2014:

Jonathan Wilks Jonathan Paul (Jon) Wilks (born 30 September 1967) is a British diplomat who was the Ambassador to Iraq from 2017 to 2019, Ambassador to Oman from 2014 to 2017 and Ambassador to Yemen from 2010 to 2011. Career Wilks was born at Callow End, Wor ...

(2012–2013: UK Special Envoy to the Syrian opposition) *2014–2017: Gareth Bayley *2017–2020:

Martin Longden Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Aust ...

*2020–2023: Jonathan Hargreaves *2023–: Ann Snow

References

External links

Syria and the UK
''gov.uk'' {{Lists of heads of UK diplomatic missions