LONDON: Syria has reopened its London embassy, the Middle Eastern country said, its latest step in restoring diplomatic ties globally since ex-leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted last year.&nbsp;Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani presided over a ceremony at the central London embassy on Thursday, raising the national flag and &quot;signaling the resumption of its activity after a 14-year closure&quot;, a statement from the Syrian foreign ministry said.&nbsp;A photo posted on Shaibani&#39;s X account showed him on the embassy balcony, waving to a crowd of people below including some holding Syrian flags.&nbsp;&quot;After years of isolation imposed by the chemical Assad regime, we are today reopening the Syrian embassy in London. Syria returns to the world with its free identity,&quot; al-Shaibani posted on X, referring to Assad&#39;s alleged use of chemical weapons.&nbsp;Ann Snow, the UK&#39;s Special Representative for Syria, also posted her support on X.&nbsp;&quot;Today I was proud to witness Syrian Foreign Minister raise the flag over the Embassy in London,a historic moment,&quot; she wrote.&nbsp;During his visit to London, al-Shaibani met his British counterpart Yvette Cooper and discussed &quot;prospects for developing Syrian-British relations, and ways of strengthening cooperation in various fields&quot;, the Syrian foreign ministry said.&nbsp;The reopening is the latest example of Damascus&#39;s growing efforts to rebuild its diplomatic presence after years of international isolation under the Assad regime.&nbsp;But since Assad&#39;s overthrow in December 2024, Syria, led by interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, has moved quickly to restore diplomatic ties across the world.&nbsp;Earlier this week, Sharaa met US President Donald Trump at the White House marking a stunning turnaround for the man once on Washington&#39;s terrorism list and with a bounty on his head.&nbsp;The group Sharaa once led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda.&nbsp;But since taking power, he has pledged to dissolve all armed factions including HTS and to re-engage with Western governments.&nbsp;The UK removed HTS from its list of banned terrorists&rsquo; organizations in October, paving the way for renewed relations.&nbsp;Former UK foreign secretary David Lammy met Sharaa in Damascus in July, announcing the restoration of diplomatic ties more than a decade after they were severed.

United Kingdom

Syria has reopened its London embassy as it restores global ties. Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani raised the flag and met UK officials, marking another step in rebuilding relations.

Syria reopens London embassy amid global diplomatic push

DAMASCUS: Syria will select members of its first post-Assad parliament on Sunday in a process criticized as undemocratic, with a third of the members appointed by interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.&nbsp;The assembly&#39;s formation is set to consolidate the power of Sharaa, whose forces led a coalition that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war and five decades of one-family rule.&nbsp;According to the organizing committee, more than 1,500 candidates &mdash; just 14 percent of them women &mdash; are running for the assembly, which will have a renewable 30-month mandate.&nbsp;Sharaa is to appoint 70 representatives out of the 210-member body.&nbsp;The other two-thirds will be selected by local committees appointed by the electoral commission, which itself was appointed by Sharaa.&nbsp;But southern Syria&#39;s Druze-majority Sweida province, which suffered sectarian bloodshed in July, and the country&#39;s Kurdish-held northeast are excluded from the process for now as they are outside Damascus&#39;s control, and their 32 seats will remain empty.&nbsp;&quot;I support the authorities and I&#39;m ready to defend them, but these aren&#39;t real elections,&quot; said Louay al-Arfi, 77, a retired civil servant sitting with friends at a Damascus cafe.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s a necessity in the transitional phase, but we want direct elections&quot; to follow, he told AFP.&nbsp;The new authorities dissolved Syria&#39;s rubber-stamp legislature after taking power.&nbsp;Under a temporary constitution announced in March, the incoming parliament will exercise legislative functions until a permanent constitution is adopted, and new elections are held.&nbsp;Sharaa has said it would be impossible to organize direct elections now, noting the large number of Syrians who lack documentation after millions fled abroad or were displaced internally during the country&#39;s civil war.&nbsp;&#39;Not elections&#39;&nbsp;Around 6,000 people are taking part in Sunday&#39;s selection process.&nbsp;Preliminary results are expected to be announced after the event, with the final list of names to be revealed on Monday.&nbsp;Under the rules, candidates must not be &quot;supporters of the former regime&quot; and must not promote secession or partition.&nbsp;Those running include Syrian American Henry Hamra, the first Jewish candidate since the 1940s.&nbsp;Rights groups have criticized the selection process, saying it concentrates power in Sharaa&#39;s hands and lacks representation for the country&#39;s ethnic and religious minorities.&nbsp;In a joint statement last month, more than a dozen non-governmental organizations said the process means Sharaa &quot;can effectively shape a parliamentary majority composed of individuals he selected or ensured loyalty from,&quot; which risked &quot;undermining the principle of pluralism essential to any genuine democratic process.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;You can call the process what you like, but not elections,&quot; said Bassam Alahmad, executive director of the France-based Syrians for Truth and Justice, among the groups that signed the statement.&nbsp;At a meeting in Damascus this week, candidate Mayssa Halwani, 48, said criticism was normal.&nbsp;&quot;The government is new to power and freedom is new for us,&quot; she said.&nbsp;Nishan Ismail, 40, a teacher in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, said &quot;elections could have been a new political start&quot; after Assad&#39;s fall, but &quot;the marginalization of numerous regions shows that the standards of political participation are not respected.&quot;&nbsp;Negotiations on integrating the Kurds&#39; civil and military institutions into the new central government have stalled, with Damascus rejecting calls for decentralization.&nbsp;In southern Syria&#39;s Druze-held city of Sweida, activist Burhan Azzam, 48, expressed a similar sentiment.&nbsp;The authorities &quot;have ended political life&quot; in Syria, he said, adding that the selection process &quot;doesn&#39;t respect the basic rules of democracy.&quot;

Middle East

The assembly's formation is set to consolidate the power of Sharaa, whose forces led a coalition that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war and five decades of one-family rule.

Articles tagged with "Bashar al-Assad"

Syria reopens London embassy amid global diplomatic push

Syria selects members of first post-Assad parliament in contested process