More than ten years after the Gulf nation severed ties with Bashar al Assad’s government, Saudi state media has reported that the two countries are in discussions to resume consular services.
According to a Saudi Foreign Ministry official quoted by the state-run station Al-Ekhbariya on Thursday, talks about resumed consular services are now underway between Saudi officials and their Syrian counterparts.
The move, which would be the latest Saudi step towards mending rifts with regional rivals, was not given a timetable in the report.
An agreement to reestablish diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which had been severed seven years prior, was announced earlier this month and was mediated by China.
Riyadh has been implying a reconciliation with Syria for several weeks.
It sent aid to both rebel-held and regime-controlled parts of the country in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that struck southeastern Türkiye and northern Syria on February 6, killing tens of thousands of people.
That effort did not involve direct contact with Assad’s internationally isolated regime; Saudi officials instead coordinated with the Syrian Red Crescent on aid going into regime-controlled territory.
Damascus has seen amplified Arab engagement since the quake, including from governments that have so far resisted normalisation after more than a decade of war.
Source -TRT World
