Giulio Andreotti and Hafiz Al-Assad: Political and Diplomatic Relations Between Italy and Syria Against The Background of the Middle East Conflict

ABSTRACT: Through part of the long political biography of Giulio Andreotti, one of the most important Italian politicians, we want to highlight the particular developments of Italian foreign policy in the Middle East, considering above all the relations that Andreotti managed to establish with Hafiz Al-Assad’s Syria. According to Andreotti, Syria represented a key element for the resolution of conflicts in the Middle East and he felt that the attitude of the United States towards the Syrian government was incomprehensible. We will examine the misunderstandings that have had an impact on the complex network of political-diplomatic relations that Italy had with all the countries that border the Mediterranean. Fundamental for this contribution and, therefore, for the reconstruction of the various events was the analysis of the various memoirs written by Andreotti in his last thirty years of political activity.