Arab League agrees to bring Syria back into its fold
Arab states are normalizing ties with Syria and are working on an “Arab-led political path” to resolve the Syrian crisis.
According to Iraqi state media, foreign ministers of Arab League member states have agreed to restore Syria’s membership after it was suspended more than a decade ago.
Ministers voted on Sunday at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo for Syria’s return.
The decision was made ahead of the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia on May 19 and amid a wave of regional normalization of ties with Damascus in recent weeks.
Syria’s Arab League membership was revoked after President Bashar al-Assad ordered a crackdown on demonstrators in March 2011, plunging the country into a civil war that has since killed nearly half a million people and displaced another 23 million .
As al-Assad solidified his control over Syrian territory, Arab states sought to normalize ties and work towards an “Arab-led political path” to resolve the crisis, Jordan’s top diplomat said, according to news agency The Associated Press.
The vote came after a meeting of top regional diplomats from Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria last week in Jordan, where they called the process of bringing Damascus back into the Arab fold the “Jordanian initiative”.
The re-establishment of ties with Damascus gained momentum following the deadly February 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and the Chinese-mediated restoration of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which had supported opposing sides in the Syrian conflict.
While Saudi Arabia has long resisted normalizing relations with al-Assad, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud visited Damascus last month for the first time in more than a decade. The two countries also restored embassies and flights between them.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also visited Damascus last week, where he signed long-term trade and oil deals.
Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar had opposed al-Assad’s presence at the Arab League summit, saying an invitation before Damascus agrees to negotiate a peace plan would be premature.
Meanwhile, the United States has said it will not change its policy towards the Syrian government, deeming it a “rogue state” and urging Arab states to get something in return for their involvement with al-Assad.