Arab League re-admits Syria after 11-yr absence

The Arab League on Sunday welcomed back Syria’s government, which had been shunned since 2011 over President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests that started the civil war.

“Government delegations from the Syrian Arab Republic will resume their participation in Arab League meetings,” said a unanimous decision by the group’s foreign ministers. The meeting in Cairo took place ahead of the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia.

It also took place days after regional top diplomats met in Jordan to discuss a roadmap to return Syria to the Arab fold as the conflict continues to deescalate.

In November 2011, the 22-member body suspended Damascus over its bloody crackdown on peaceful protests which began earlier that year and which spiralled into a civil conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million and battered the country’s infrastructure and industry.

While the front lines have mostly quietened, large parts of the country’s north remain outside government control, and no political solution has yet been reached to the 12-year-old conflict.

Assad has been politically isolated since the Syrian conflict began, but recent weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity ahead of an Arab League summit in the Saudi city of Jeddah on May 19.

The last Arab League summit Assad attended was in 2010. The body usually attempts to make decisions by consensus, but decisions otherwise could pass with a simple majority vote.

As Assad regained control of most of the country with the help of key allies Russia and Iran, some of the Syria’s neighbours that hosted large refugee populations took steps towards re-establishing diplomatic ties with Damascus. Meanwhile, Gulf monarchies the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have re-established ties.

The February 6 earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria was a catalyst for further normalisation across the Arab world, as well as regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran re-establishing ties in Beijing, which had backed opposing sides in the conflict.