Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday (May 9th) the return of its diplomatic representation in Syria, a first in eleven years of rupture with the Damascus regime, isolated because of the civil war that has ravaged the country.
The oil-rich Gulf monarchy has recently moved closer to Syria as well as Iran, a major supporter of President Bashar al-Assad. "Saudi Arabia has decided to resume the work of its diplomatic mission in Syria," the Ministry of Affairs said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. Riyadh is seeking to "develop joint Arab action," he said.
Reintegration into the Arab League
This decision of the leader of the Gulf countries and regional heavyweight, comes two days after the reintegration of Syria into the Arab League, announced Sunday in Cairo. Damascus was expelled from the pan-Arab organization in 2011 because of the bloody repression of a popular uprising triggered in the wake of the Arab Spring.
The Syrian president had recently emerged from his persona non grata status, taking advantage of a surge of global solidarity in February after an earthquake devastated large areas of Syria, as well as Turkey. This rapprochement comes at a time when Syria is in dire need of investors for the enormous reconstruction of the country, ravaged by twelve years of civil war.
The Syrian opposition and the United States have denounced the ongoing normalization of Arab countries, with the exception of Qatar, with the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Involving regional and international actors, the war has claimed an estimated half a million lives. Nearly half of Syrians are now refugees or internally displaced persons, and parts of the territory are still outside government control.