CAIRO: The Arab League on Sunday welcomed back Syria’s government, ending a more than decade-long suspension and securing President Bashar al-Assad’s return to the Arab fold after years of isolation.
The ministers in a statement emphasised their “keenness to launch a leading Arab role in efforts to resolve” the Syria crisis and its “humanitarian, security and political consequences”, noting that humanitarian aid must reach “all those in need”.
They also agreed to form a ministerial committee to continue “direct dialogue with the Syrian government in order to reach a comprehensive solution”.
Several Arab countries cut ties with Damascus early in the conflict.
The last Arab League summit Assad attended was in 2010.
The United Arab Emirates, which re-established ties in late 2018, has been leading the recent charge to reintegrate Damascus into the Arab fold.
A February 6 earthquake that wreaked devastation in Turkiye and Syria sparked Arab outreach to Assad’s government, while intensified diplomatic activity has been under way in the region since a March decision by rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume ties.
In March, Saudi state media said Riyadh and Damascus were in talks on resuming consular services, and in April, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan made the first visit to Damascus by a official from the kingdom since the start of the war.
That meeting came less than a week after Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Saudi Arabia, also on the first such visit since the conflict began.
Mekdad has visited a string of Arab countries including in recent weeks in a diplomatic push, including to Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. He attended talks in Amman with foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt to discuss the long-running conflict.
In April, nine Arab countries including Gulf states meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending Syria’s long spell in the diplomatic wilderness and its possible return to the Arab League.
Recently, Iran and Syria agreed to boost ties and develop economic relations, with a focus on reconstruction, as the Islamic republic’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Friday concluded a landmark visit to Damascus.
Tehran has been a key ally to Damascus offering vital economic and military assistance that has helped the Syrian government claw back most of the territory it lost at the start of the conflict.
— AFP
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