Saudi Arabia and Syria to resume diplomatic missions after decade-long freeze: state media

By Eyad Kourdi and Hande Atay Alam, CNN

Saudi Arabia and Syria have resumed the work of diplomatic missions in both countries, according to state media, more than a decade after Riyadh cut ties over the Syrian government’s brutal handling of its civil war.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to resume the work of its diplomatic mission in the Syrian Arab Republic,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Tuesday.

The announcement came two days after Syria was readmitted into the Arab League — despite repeated objections from the United States to ending the isolation of a regime that it holds accountable for the deaths of more 300,000 civilians and displacement of millions in the country’s civil war.

Damascus also announced the decision to resume work of its diplomatic mission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to Syrian state media SANA, citing a statement from an official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Based on the deep bonds and common affiliation of the peoples of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and in confirmation of both communities’ wills, and based on the Syrian Arab Republic believe in the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between Arab countries to serve joint Arab action, The Syrian Arab Republic decided to resume the work of its diplomatic mission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the statement reads.

Officials and analysts have said that Syria’s re-admission into the Arab League, while symbolic, comes with the hope that it could pave the way for President Bashar Al Assad’s rehabilitation internationally, and potentially the removal of crippling sanctions against his regime.

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