Washington urged states not to establish diplomatic relations or economic cooperation with Syrian President Bashar Assad before addressing the atrocities committed by his regime against the Syrian people, a spokesperson for the US Department of State told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.
The official said Assad’s regime was responsible for countless horrors, in addition to repeatedly using chemical weapons against his people.
The regime also invited Iranian and Russian forces to fight on its territories, therefore, threatening neighboring countries and the entire region, the US spokesperson explained.
“Any attempt to reestablish or improve diplomatic relations, without addressing the atrocities committed by the regime against the Syrian people, shall damage efforts to enhance accountability and to move towards a sustainable, peaceful and political solution of the Syrian conflict, in line with UNSC Resolution 2254,” he said.
Assad and his regime should take irreversible steps to end all types of violence against the Syrian people and to implement UNSC Resolution 2254 or face continued diplomatic and economic isolation, the official added.
The statement came a few days after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem received a copy of the credentials of Turki Mahmood al-Busaidi, the extraordinary and plenipotentiary Ambassador of Oman to Syria.
Abkhazia opened its embassy in Damascus on Tuesday and raised its flag during a ceremony attended by Moallem and a high-ranking Abkhazian delegation that is paying a visit to Syria, including head of presidential administration Alkhas Kvitsinia, Foreign Minister Daur Vadimovich Kove.
Abkhazia and Damascus agreed on enhancing bilateral relations and on mutual exemption of visas for the citizens in both countries for bearers of diplomatic and official and private passports.
“The embassy will be the cornerstone in the bilateral relations and it may be a step to encourage others who closed their embassies in Damascus to reopen them,” the Syrian FM said, expressing readiness to provide all support and assistance to enable the Abkhazian ambassador perform his duties successfully.
Kvitsinia reviewed the history of relations between Abkhazia and Syria, starting with mutual recognition in May 2018, the signature of a treaty of friendship and cooperation, two agreements on the establishment of a joint committee for cooperation in various fields and facilitating and developing trade and economic cooperation between the two countries besides the establishment of diplomatic relations at the level of embassies.
Syria recognized Georgia’s two Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent states back in 2018, a step which was condemned by the international community.
