After More Than A Decade, Saudi Arabia To Reopen Embassy In Syria

Saudi Arabia has been hinting at a rapprochement with Syria for weeks.

Riyadh:

Saudi Arabia and Syria are in talks on resuming consular companies, Saudi state media mentioned Thursday, greater than a decade after the Gulf kingdom minimize ties with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“A dialogue is underway between officers within the kingdom and their counterparts in Syria about resuming the supply of consular companies,” state-affiliated channel Al-Ekhbariya mentioned, citing a Saudi international ministry official.

The report gave no timeline for the transfer, which might mark the most recent Saudi step in direction of mending rifts with regional rivals.

Earlier this month, a Chinese language-brokered deal was introduced to revive diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, seven years after they’d been severed.

Riyadh has been hinting at a rapprochement with Syria for weeks.

It despatched help to each rebel-held and government-controlled components of the nation within the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6, killing tens of hundreds of individuals.

That effort didn’t contain direct contact with Assad’s internationally remoted authorities, and Saudi officers as a substitute coordinated with the Syrian Purple Crescent on help going into government-controlled territory.

Damascus has seen amplified Arab engagement for the reason that quake, together with from governments which have up to now resisted normalisation after greater than a decade of conflict.

Saudi Overseas Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan mentioned in February {that a} consensus was constructing within the Arab world {that a} new method to Syria requiring negotiations with Damascus could be wanted to handle humanitarian crises.

“There’s a consensus throughout the Arab world that the established order isn’t working and that we have to discover another method,” Prince Faisal informed the Munich Safety Convention.

“What that method is, continues to be being formulated,” he added.

Ayham Kamel, Center East and North Africa researcher for Eurasia Group, mentioned Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, wish to see “a extra steady atmosphere” within the area that may let him concentrate on home points.

“The home financial modernisation agenda requires a extra steady atmosphere and due to this fact the offers which might be rising,” Kamel informed AFP.

The Saudi international minister mentioned coverage shifts on Syria may additionally assist Syrian refugees in neighbouring international locations, primarily Jordan and Lebanon.

On Sunday, Assad visited the United Arab Emirates, the place President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan informed him it was time for Damascus to be reintegrated into the broader Arab area, Emirati state media mentioned.

The journey — Assad’s second to the oil-rich UAE in as a few years — comes after a go to to Oman final month, his solely official engagements in Arab international locations for the reason that begin of Syria’s conflict in 2011.

Syria was expelled from the Cairo-based Arab League in 2011 over its violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.

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