Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad meets with his Egyptian counterpart (not pictured) at the ministry headquarters in Cairo, April 1, 2023. (Credit: Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
CAIRO — Syria's foreign minister met his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo Saturday, the first such visit in more than a decade and the latest sign that Arab states are amenable to mending ties with regime of President Bashar al Assad.
Assad was shunned by many Western and Arab states due to the war in Syria, which splintered the country and left hundreds of thousands of people dead.
An Egyptian security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the visit aimed to put in place steps for Syria's return to the Arab League through Egyptian and Saudi Arabian mediation.
The Cairo-based Arab League suspended Syria's membership in 2011 and many Arab states pulled their envoys from Damascus.
Some countries, including the United States and Qatar, have opposed the rehabilitation of ties with Assad, citing his state's brutality during the conflict and the need to see progress towards a political solution in Syria.
Key regional powers, however, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have recently signalled increasing openness towards Damascus.Egypt's foreign ministry published pictures of the two ministers in a closed meeting before a wider discussion.
Syria's state news agency SANA reported that the talks were aimed at strengthening ties between the two states.
Egypt's Shoukry visited Syria and Turkey in February after the devastating earthquakes there.