
Arab League foreign ministers adopted a decision to readmit Syria after more than a decade of suspension on Sunday, a spokesperson for the League said, consolidating a regional push to normalize ties with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
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The decision was taken at a closed meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo, said Gamal Roshdy, spokesman for the League’s secretary general.
Syria’s membership was suspended in 2011 after a bloody crackdown on street protests against Assad that led to a devastating civil war and many Arab states pulling their envoys out of Damascus.
Recently, several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have re-engaged with Syria in high-level visits and meetings, though some, including Qatar, remain opposed to full normalization without a political solution to Syria’s conflict.
Arab states have been trying to reach a consensus on whether to invite Assad to an Arab League summit on May 19 in Riyadh to discuss the pace and terms of normalizing ties.