As ties warm, Syria to host a 2024 Arab energy conference

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s energy ministry says Damascus will host an Arab energy conference in 2024. The announcement is the latest sign that Arab countries are moving to re-engage with the government of Syria’s embattled President Bashar Assad. The statement followed a unanimous vote from members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries during a virtual meeting Thursday. Qatar is hosting the 2023 conference. Arab countries have in recent months been making limited moves to improve relations with Syria, a decade after it was shunned and kicked out of the Arab League at the onset of the country’s civil war in 2011.