US, Qatar comment on readmission of Syria into Arab League
Hamas, on its part, welcomes Syria's restoration of its seat in the Arab League.
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The flag and empty chair of the Syrian delegate seen during the 28th Ordinary Summit of the Arab League at the Dead Sea, Jordan, March 29, 2017 (Reuters)
The United States criticized the Arab League's readmission of the Syrian Arab Republic into the body on Sunday, yet it said it aligns with its Arab allies on "ultimate objectives".
Washington considers that Damascus does not merit to be brought back into the bloc now, questioning the willingness of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to resolve the crisis resulting from the war on the country. Still, it believes its allies aim with this step to engage with Al-Assad directly to push to solve the country's crisis, a State Department spokesperson said on Sunday.
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The Arab League's announcement today came despite strong opposition from the US in recent months.
"We do not believe that Syria merits readmission to the Arab League at this time," Vedant Patel, the principal deputy spokesperson for the State Department, said in April.
Patel added that the US will not normalize relations with Damascus absent "authentic progress" toward a solution to the ongoing war.
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While Qatar also opposed Syria rejoining the Council and echoed on Sunday Washington's position against normalizing ties with Damascus, Qatar's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, said Doha will always support anything that brings about Arab consensus, stressing that the Gulf country will not be an obstacle to that process.
On its part, Hamas welcomed, through its Spokesperson Hazem Qassem, Syria's restoration of its seat in the Arab League, which was announced today by the League Council.
Qassem said, in a tweet on his Twitter account, "We welcome the announcement by the foreign ministers of the Arab countries that Syria will retrieve its seat in the Arab League."
نرحب بإعلان وزراء خارجية الدول العربية عودة سوريا لاشغال مقعدها في الجامعة العربية، ونتمنى سرعة معالجة كل تداعيات الأزمة السورية. وندعو لتعزيز العلاقات البينية بين كل مكونات الأمة لتصليب موقفها في مواجهة الأطماع الاستعمارية الخارجية وفي مقدمتها المشروع الصهيوني التوسعي
— حازم قاسم (@hazemaq) May 7, 2023
In his tweet, Qassem called for "strengthening inter-relationships between all components of the nation in order to solidify its position in the face of external colonial ambitions, foremost of which is the expansionist Zionist project."
Despite opposition from Western countries, Arab foreign ministers announced on Sunday Syria’s return to the Arab League during an extraordinary meeting that took place in the Egyptian capital ahead of the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia on May 19.
The Arab League renewed its commitment to preserving Syria's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and stability, welcoming Damascus' readiness to cooperate with Arab countries to implement the outputs of the relevant Arab statements.
A ministerial liaison committee must be formed, the statement continued, consisting of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt in order to follow up on the implementation of the statement of the recent Amman consultative meeting, which was held in early May to discuss ways to end the suffering of the Syrian people and resolve the crisis once and for all.
