The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday reopened its embassy in Damascus in the latest sign of efforts to bring the Syrian government back into the Arab fold.
The UAE broke ties with Syria in February 2012 as the repression of nationwide protests demanding regime change was escalating into a devastating war.
Nearly seven years later, the Emirati flag was raised again during a ceremony attended by diplomats and journalists.
Photo: EPA-EFE
An acting charge d’affaires has already started working, an Emirati statement said, adding that the UAE is “keen to put relations back on their normal track.”
It said that the resumption of ties aimed to “support the sovereignty and independence of Syria” and face “the dangers of regional interferences.”
Rumors that the Emirati embassy might reopen had circulated for days as renovation work was seen getting under way at the building.
Photo: AFP
A visit to Damascus by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir earlier this month had been interpreted by some observers as a sign of regional efforts to end Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s diplomatic isolation.
A few hours after the UAE’s announcement, Bahrain signaled its intention to reopen its embassy in Damascus, which has been closed since March 2012.
The Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it was “anxious to continue relations” with Syria and wants “to strengthen the Arab role and reactivate it in order to preserve the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and prevent the risk of regional interference in its affairs.”
Syria was suspended from the Arab League in November 2011 as the death toll was escalating and several regional powers bet on al-Assad’s demise.
The conflict has now killed more than 360,000 people.
Al-Assad’s seat at the helm, which he inherited from his father in 2000, appeared to be hanging by a thread until Russia’s 2015 military intervention turned things around.
Government forces and allied militia have since steadily regained significant ground. They now firmly control the Damascus region and several key trade routes in the country.
The past few days have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity that looks set to continue until the next summit of the Arab League, due in Tunis in March.
“Recent discussions on this issue have not yielded a consensus,” Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Hossam Zaki told reporters in Cairo on Monday.
However, he added: “This does not rule out a possible change of the Arab position in the future.”
Ali Mamlouk, Syria’s intelligence chief and a key figure in the al-Assad regime, travelled to Egypt last week on an official visit.
With military operations winding down in several parts of the country and the capital fully secure, Damascus is also working on breaking its physical isolation.
Trade with Jordan resumed over the past few weeks, after the reopening of a border crossing, and Thursday saw the first commercial flight to Tunisia in years.
An ariplane operated by Damascus-based Cham Wings Airlines completed the first flight between the two countries since 2011.
“This trip is the reopening of tourism links between Syria and Tunisia,” said Moataz Tarbin, the head of the tourism firm that organized the flight.
It was not yet clear whether more Arab countries, several of which were accused by al-Assad of once supporting militants and rebels, could follow in the UAE’s footsteps.
The UAE and Bahrain are two of six Gulf Cooperation Council nations that took a tough stance on Damascus in 2012 and eventually recognized an opposition umbrella group as the representative of Syria.
Warming up to al-Assad is seen by some regional powers as a way of luring Syria away from the exclusive regional influence of Iran.
“An Arab role in Syria has become even more necessary to face the regional expansionism of Iran and Turkey,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Twitter.
Tehran has been a staunch supporter of al-Assad’s government and has expanded its military footprint in Syria throughout the course of the conflict.
Last week’s announcement by the White House that US troops would be pulled out also cleared the path for Turkey to muscle in on Kurdish areas in northeastern Syria.
US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed that Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional archenemy, had agreed to finance Syria’s huge reconstruction needs.
“Saudi Arabia has now agreed to spend the necessary money needed to help rebuild Syria, instead of the United States,” Trump said on social media.
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