Syria’s Assad meets senior Arab lawmakers in Damascus

Delegation of Arab parliamentarians meets Bashar al-Assad in newest signal of warming ties after greater than a decade of isolation within the area.

A delegation of senior Arab parliamentarians has met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus in one other signal of thawing ties after greater than a decade of isolation over the battle in Syria.

The heads of the Iraqi, Jordanian, Palestinian, Libyan, Egyptian and Emirati homes of representatives, in addition to representatives from Oman and Lebanon, travelled to Syria as a part of a delegation from the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union.

They met with Syrian parliamentarians and with al-Assad, Syrian state information company SANA reported on Sunday.

“We can not do with out Syria and Syria can not do with out its Arab setting, which we hope it may return to,” stated Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi.

Syria was largely remoted from the remainder of the Arab world following al-Assad’s lethal crackdown in opposition to protests that erupted in opposition to his rule in 2011.

The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in 2011, and plenty of Arab international locations pulled their envoys out of Damascus.

However al-Assad has benefitted from an outpouring of help from Arab states following two devastating earthquakes on February 6, which killed greater than 5,900 folks throughout his nation, in accordance with a tally of United Nations and Syrian authorities figures.

Donors have included Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which each supported rebels in search of to overthrow al-Assad within the early years of the Syrian battle.

The go to comes because the Egyptian international ministry stated that International Minister Sameh Shoukry will journey to Damascus on Monday within the first go to by an Egyptian international minister since Syria’s battle erupted in 2011.

Shoukry will go to Syria and Turkey, the place tens of hundreds had been killed by the quakes, to “convey a message of solidarity from Egypt with the 2 international locations”, in accordance with the international ministry assertion.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi spoke with al-Assad by cellphone for the primary time on February 7 and Jordan’s international minister made his first journey to Damascus on February 15.

Al-Assad then travelled to Oman on February 20 — the primary time he has left Syria because the quake.

He had not often left Syria in the course of the conflict, travelling solely to shut allies Russia and Iran, whose navy help helped him flip the tide of the battle.

Al-Assad’s 2022 go to to the UAE was his first journey to an Arab state because the 2011 outbreak of conflict.