The Secretary-General of the , Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said on Thursday that there was no consensus on return to the Arab League, 11 years after the country was suspended from the body.
Gheit said that ³§²ā°ł¾±²¹ās re-joining was ānot discussedā during a meeting between Arab foreign ministers in Cairo yesterday. He added that the issue should be decided ābilaterally between Arab countriesā and if āa consensus exists,ā Syria will return to the Arab League.
The Arab Leagueās next meeting will be held in Algeria on November 1.
³§²ā°ł¾±²¹ās membership in the Arab League was suspended in 2011, following the regimeās bloody crackdown on peaceful protests. Other members of the Arab League also cracked down on Arab Spring protesters, but were not suspended.
The countryās seat has remained vacant since as the Syrian regime intensified its war against the armed opposition, displacing about half of the population and killing hundreds of thousands.
There have been increasing calls for the country to be allowed to re-join the supranational body over the last year, with Cairo and Abu Dhabi for ³§²ā°ł¾±²¹ās re-admission. Arab diplomats have been working behind the scenes to attempt to gain consensus over the move, according to reports.
Analysts have said that Syria being readmitted to the Arab League would largely be symbolic, as the body holds little relevance for politics in the region. It would, however, be a that the Syrian regimeās status as an international pariah is shifting.
Arab countries have began repairing ties with Damascus on an individual basis, with countries like Jordan and the UAE exchanging with Syria. Jordan said in October 2021 that it is dealing with Syria as a āā, and pushing ahead with relations with the country.
There is still considerable opposition to ³§²ā°ł¾±²¹ās readmission, as regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia has made clear that it is any reinstatement of the country.
The Arab League has historically been , meaning readmission of Syria could need Saudi approval before it moves forward.
The US, for its part, that it would not normalize ties with Damascus nor encourage its regional allies to do so.