UAE Reopens Embassy in Damascus

The UAE reopens its embassy in Damascus. (Reuters)
The UAE reopens its embassy in Damascus. (Reuters)
TT

UAE Reopens Embassy in Damascus

The UAE reopens its embassy in Damascus. (Reuters)
The UAE reopens its embassy in Damascus. (Reuters)

The United Arab Emirates reopened on Thursday its embassy in Damascus, six years after closing it with the eruption of the country’s conflict.

The UAE broke ties with Syria in February 2012, as the repression of nationwide protests demanding regime change was escalating into a devastating war.

An acting charge d'affaires has already started working, an Emirati statement said, stressing that the UAE was "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".

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," Hossam Zaki, the League's deputy secretary general, told reporters in Cairo on Monday.

"This does not rule out a possible change of the Arab position in the future," he added.

UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash stated later that Syria’s return to the Arab League “need Arab consensus.”

Moreover, he stressed that “opening channels of contact with Damascus will not leave it exposed to Iranian meddling.”

“All parties are convinced of the need for a political solution to the Syrian crisis,” he added.



Syria's al-Sharaa Says Holding Elections Can Take Up to 4 Years

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa walks in the presidential palace in Damascus, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa walks in the presidential palace in Damascus, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
TT

Syria's al-Sharaa Says Holding Elections Can Take Up to 4 Years

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa walks in the presidential palace in Damascus, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa walks in the presidential palace in Damascus, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Holding elections in Syria can take up to four years, Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa told Al Arabiya in an interview on Sunday.

Drafting a new constitution could take up to three years, al-Sharaa said in excerpts from the interview with the broadcaster. He also said it would take about a year for Syrians to see drastic changes.

Al-Sharaa also hoped the Trump administration will lift the sanctions on Syria.

The Biden administration said earlier this month that it has decided not to pursue a $10 million reward it had offered for al-Sharaa, whose group, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led fighters that ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between al-Sharaa and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster on Dec. 8.

HTS remains designated a foreign terrorist organization, and Leaf would not say if sanctions stemming from that designation would be eased.

Al- Sharaa also told Al Arabiya that Syria has strategic interests with Russia. Russia has military bases in Syria, was a close Assad ally during the long civil war and has granted Assad asylum.
Al-Sharaa said earlier this month that Syria's relations with Russia should serve common interests.