Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has appointed Seif bin Saud al-Mujfel as the new ambassador to Syria, marking the reopening of the kingdom's diplomatic mission in Damascus, which had been closed since 2012. This development comes after Saudi Arabia and Syria agreed to restore diplomatic relations in May 2023. Following the normalization of ties, Syria's embassy in Riyadh reopened, and earlier this year, Saudi Arabia opened its embassy in Damascus, operated by Charge d'Affaires Abdallah al-Haris.
The diplomatic rift began with the Syrian civil war, prompting most Arab countries to withdraw their ambassadors and join an economic boycott against Syria, after failing to secure concessions from Damascus in favor of the opposition. During the conflict, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and other states provided financial and military support to militias opposing the Syrian government. However, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman have since normalized relations with Syria and resumed their diplomatic missions in Damascus.
In a significant regional development, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attended the Arab League summit in Jeddah on May 19 for the first time since 2010. This followed the Arab League Council's decision to restore Syria's full membership in the organization, which had been suspended in November 2011. In November 2023, President Al-Assad made a second visit to Saudi Arabia to participate in an extraordinary League summit addressing the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Based on materials from TASS