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Morocco, Spain to Reopen Land Borders in Ceuta, Melilla

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (L) receives the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Jose Manuel Albares, in Marrakech, Morocco, 11 May 2022, as he arrives for the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. (EPA)
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (L) receives the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Jose Manuel Albares, in Marrakech, Morocco, 11 May 2022, as he arrives for the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. (EPA)
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Morocco, Spain to Reopen Land Borders in Ceuta, Melilla

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (L) receives the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Jose Manuel Albares, in Marrakech, Morocco, 11 May 2022, as he arrives for the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. (EPA)
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (L) receives the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Jose Manuel Albares, in Marrakech, Morocco, 11 May 2022, as he arrives for the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. (EPA)

The land borders between Morocco and Spain’s North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla will reopen next week, Spain said Thursday, after being closed for more than two years due to COVID-19 restrictions and tensions between the two countries.

The two countries have “reached a definitive deal for the reopening of the land borders with Ceuta and Melilla in the coming days,” Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told journalists.

His remarks were made following talks with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in the Moroccan city of Marrakech on Wednesday.

Tensions simmered between Morocco and Spain following a major dispute last year when Madrid allowed head of the Polisario Front Brahim Ghali to be treated for COVID-19 in a Spanish hospital.

Some ten thousand migrants surged across the Moroccan border into Ceuta as local border forces relaxed security measures.

In March, Spain moved to end the diplomatic crisis with Morocco by removing its decades-long stance of neutrality and backing the kingdom’s autonomy plan for the Western Sahara.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI sent back the Moroccan ambassador to Spain 10 months after she was recalled and hosted Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in an April visit to Rabat.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.