Lebanese FM calls for return of Syria to Arab League
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Lebanon’s foreign minister insisted that Syrian membership in the Arab League must be restored from its suspended status due to changing external factors.
“Syria must return to us in order to stop our own losses before stopping its losses. Syria must be in our arms instead of throwing it into the arms of terrorism,” Gebran Bassil said during the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit (AESD) in capital city of Beirut on Friday.
Bassil, who led the summit, added that they do not have to commit a “historic shame” by maintaining the suspension of Syrian membership.
Syria’s participation was suspended in 2011 when the regime was criticized for cracking down on protesters who demanded the end of President Bashar al-Assad family’s reign.
Arab countries have supported different opposition groups in Syria since 2011, but their stance has changed since President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of his country’s troops from Syria. They fear that non-Arab countries like Iran and Turkey will replace these troops.
The first initiative by Arab states came from Sudan whose President Omar al-Bashir visited Syria last month.
Later the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus and other Arab states have also showed their readiness to follow the same step.
Iraq has welcomed efforts for the return of its western neighbor to Arab League.
The group currently has 22 members. It was founded in 1945 in Cairo by Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and Yemen.
“Syria must return to us in order to stop our own losses before stopping its losses. Syria must be in our arms instead of throwing it into the arms of terrorism,” Gebran Bassil said during the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit (AESD) in capital city of Beirut on Friday.
Bassil, who led the summit, added that they do not have to commit a “historic shame” by maintaining the suspension of Syrian membership.
Syria’s participation was suspended in 2011 when the regime was criticized for cracking down on protesters who demanded the end of President Bashar al-Assad family’s reign.
Arab countries have supported different opposition groups in Syria since 2011, but their stance has changed since President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of his country’s troops from Syria. They fear that non-Arab countries like Iran and Turkey will replace these troops.
The first initiative by Arab states came from Sudan whose President Omar al-Bashir visited Syria last month.
Later the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus and other Arab states have also showed their readiness to follow the same step.
Iraq has welcomed efforts for the return of its western neighbor to Arab League.
The group currently has 22 members. It was founded in 1945 in Cairo by Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and Yemen.