Arab League Agrees to Restore Syria’s Membership after a Decade of Suspension

According to Iraqi state media, the foreign ministers of Arab League members have agreed to restore Syria’s membership suspended more than a decade ago.

Ministers voted for the return of Syria at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Sunday, May 7.

The decision comes against the backdrop of a series of regional normalizations with Damascus in recent weeks ahead of the May 19 Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia.

President Bashar al-Assad ordered a crackdown on protesters in March 2011, plunging the country into civil war that killed nearly half a million people and displaced another 23 million. After this, Syria’s Arab League membership was revoked.

Jordan’s top diplomat said the Arab state has been seeking to normalize relations as Assad consolidates his grip on Syrian territory, committing to an “Arab-led political path” to resolve the crisis, the Associated Press reported.

The vote followed last week’s meeting in Jordan of senior regional diplomats from Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria, where they dubbed the Arab world’s process of readmitting Damascus the “Jordanian Initiative”.

The restoration of ties with Damascus has accelerated following the deadly Feb. 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, while Saudi Arabia and Iran are rebuilding ties brokered by China, which backed opposing sides in the Syrian conflict.

While Saudi Arabia has long resisted normalizing relations with Assad, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud made his first visit to Damascus last month in more than a decade, and the two countries also resumed their ties. Embassies and flights between the two countries.

Iranian President Ibrahim Rahim also visited Damascus last week and signed long-term trade and oil deals.

Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar have opposed Assad’s attendance at the Arab League summit, saying it was premature to extend the invitation before Damascus agreed to negotiate a peace plan.

Meanwhile, the United States said it would not change its policy toward the Syrian government, which it considers a “rogue” state, and urged Arab states to offer something in return for their engagement with Assad.