LONDON: The Syrian Arab Republic officially reopened its embassy in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, on Thursday after a hiatus of nearly 14 years.
Morocco severed diplomatic ties with Syria and declared the country’s ambassador persona non grata in 2012, following the brutal suppression by former president Bashar Assad of protests demanding social justice, and the subsequent outbreak of the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011 and continued until the fall of Assad’s regime in December 2024.
Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani, Syria’s minister of foreign affairs and expatriates, raised his country’s flag over the embassy in the presence of his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Under Assad, Syria supported the Polisario Front, which strained relations with the Moroccan government; Rabat views the organization as a separatist group seeking to form an independent entity in Western Sahara, and therefore a threat to Morocco’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Transitional authorities in Damascus have mended and resumed ties with several countries since the fall of Assad, and have engaged in talks with a number of states in an effort to secure assistance to boost economic recovery and rebuild the country’s infrastructure, which was heavily damaged during the civil war.
