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In 2011 in Syria, diplomacy represented both a hoped-for means of resolving the crisis and an object of struggle between the regime and the opposition. A competition for representation abroad began between a state apparatus weakened by protests and an opposition movement in the making. This article thus aims to deepen the understanding of the Syrian civil war through the lens of the diplomatic apparatuses constructed by its various actors. Their involvement on the international stage gives the misleading impression of a zero-sum diplomatic game: the recognition lost by one could be gained by the other. But understanding these dynamics requires, above all, abandoning a normative view of what diplomacy is or should be, in order to study what really makes a diplomat. This allows us to examine issues of legitimacy, apprenticeship, and loyalty when studying both regime and opposition diplomats, and to compare their profiles, organisational structures, and scope of action.