A pro-regime newspaper announced earlier this week that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem will lead the country’s delegation to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Muallem will reportedly speak next Monday.

Political intrigue will swirl around whether and to what extent Muallem is treated as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people. The Syrian opposition National Coalition has also committed to having representatives at the event, in its case headed by Ahmad Jarba. Observers will closely watch who meets on the sidelines with Muallem and who meets with Jarba.

Muallem has become a key face in the Bashar al-Assad regime’s efforts to media battles. In late August he held an hour-long press conference dominated by sympathetic journalists and devoted to lashing out at the U.S. and Israel. Iranian media conveyed the substance and tone of his remarks, with him declaring that “the war effort led by the United States and their allies will serve the interests of Israel and secondly the Nusra Front” and that “everything that is happening today and any talk of an intervention is in the interest of Israel.”

Other statements from that same press conference bear directly on what may occur at the UNGA.

Asked a question about the Arab League, Muallem had shot back that he “doesn’t recognize” the bloc. The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in 2011 over its violent response to anti-government protesters.

In contrast Russia was declared by Muallem to be a “pillar” of Syria’s military, and Syria was in “perfect cooperation with” Iran.

[Oren Kessler contributed to this report]

[Photo: Euronews / YouTube]