Saudi Arabia and Syria are currently in talks on resuming their consular services, more than 10 years after Riyadh severed ties with Damascus, the pro-Saudi government press reported on Thursday.
Syrian head of state Bashar al-Assad has been diplomatically isolated since the 2011 repression of a popular uprising that turned into an armed conflict.
However, since the earthquake that mourned Syria on February 6, Arab states have multiplied contacts with the leaders of Damascus and dispatched aid to the affected Syrian populations.
“Discussions are underway between officials of the kingdom and their counterparts in Syria on a resumption of consular services” between the two states, assured Thursday evening, the Saudi TV channel Al-Ekhbariya, referring to an authority of Saudi diplomacy .
This announcement comes nearly two weeks after the announcement of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two major powers in the Gulf region which had broken off all diplomatic relations since 2016.
Ryad had indeed severed its ties with Damascus in 2012, before supporting insurgents in this country at the start of the war. But, since the earthquake of February 6, Saudi Arabia has assisted the affected populations in Syria, both in areas controlled by the authorities and in those fallen into the hands of the rebels.