The United Kingdom is restoring the full ties with Syria after the spill of ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Foreign Minister David Lammy said during a visit to Damascus on Saturday.
“After more than a decade of conflict, there is a renewed hope for the Syrian people. The United Kingdom is restoring diplomatic relations because it is in accordance with our interest to support the new government to offer its commitment to build a stable, safer and safest future for all Syrians,” Lammy said in a statement.
The statement came after Lammy’s meeting with Syria leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, Syria presidency said, on his first visit from the expulsion of Assad.
The interim president Sharaa received Lammy together with Foreign Minister Sirio Asaad al-Shaibani, according to photos of the meeting published by the Presidency.
The conversations addressed “bilateral ties … and ways to strengthen cooperation, as well as regional and international developments,” Sharaa’s office said in a statement.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a similar statement after a separate meeting between Lammy and Shaibani.
Syria has seen a series of diplomatic activity since the forces led by the rebels expelled Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war grinding.
In May, Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra met with an official British delegation, said the Ministry of Defense at that time.
In April, the United Kingdom government announced that it was lifting the sanctions imposed on the Ministries of Interior and Defense of Syria under Assad.
He also said he was raising sanctions against several groups of media and intelligence agencies, as well as some sectors of the economy, including financial services and energy production.
A month earlier, he raised the sanctions to 24 entities, including the Central Bank of Syria.
The new authorities of Syria have welcomed the movements, which occurred when they seek to rebuild the country and restart their dying economy, both devastated by the conflict and paralyzing sanctions.
