Nine Arab countries will meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss relations with Syria, Qatar’s foreign ministry said Tuesday, as efforts are intensifying to ease the isolation of the Syrian president.
The meeting will take place in Jeddah, in western Saudi Arabia, between senior officials from six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and ministers from Egypt. , Iraq and Jordan, Majed Al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said.
“The main goal is to discuss the situation in Syria,” he said at a press conference, adding that Saudi Arabia convened this “consultative” meeting through the GCC.
Saudi Arabia and the GCC secretariat did not immediately comment on Qatar’s announcement, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been isolated on the international stage since the 2011 crackdown on a popular uprising that escalated into a protracted conflict.
After years of boycott, Arab countries have recently expressed a desire to move closer to Damascus, especially after the earthquake in Syria in early February.
Countries in the region, such as the United Arab Emirates, have stepped up their contacts and sent aid.
Syria was expelled from the Arab League at the end of 2011, but now some governments want the Syrian president to be invited to the organization’s summit in Riyadh in May.
“There are many developments (…) in the views of the Arabs on the return of Syria to the Arab League,” said a Qatari diplomat whose country, like the United States and a number of European countries, rejected any normalization of relations with Al-Assad.
He added that the talks “will focus on the exchange of views on this issue and the position of each country on the situation” in Syria.
According to Majed Al-Ansari, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdelrahman Al-Thani, will attend the meeting.
Syria has been torn apart by a civil war since 2011, which has been complicated over the years by the intervention of several countries and foreign armed groups.
The conflict has killed some 500,000 people, destroyed the country’s infrastructure and displaced millions of people.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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