Iran: Syria’s return to Arab League shows region’s resolve to reduce foreign interference
Iran has welcomed Syria’s return to the Arab League more than a decade after its membership was suspended by the 22-member regional organization.
“Settlement of disputes among Muslim countries, as well as convergence and synergy among them, will deliver favorable results for collective stability and peace and will pave the way for reducing foreign profit-seeking interferences in regional affairs,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani said in a statement on Monday morning.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes such an approach,” he added.
Arab government representatives in Cairo voted on Sunday to return Syria to the Arab League after a 12-year suspension.
All 13 of the 22 member states that attended the session endorsed the decision. However, there is still no Arab consensus on normalization of ties with Damascus.
Several governments did not attend the meeting. Among the most notable absentees was Qatar, which continues to back the so-called moderate opposition groups against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.
The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement also welcomed the announcement of Syria’s return to the Arab League.
“We welcome the decision by foreign ministers of Arab countries to reinstate Syria’s membership in the Arab League,” Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the Gaza-based group, said.
“We hope all repercussions of the Syrian crisis will be addressed as soon as possible,” he added.
The Hamas spokesman also called for “stronger interactions among all components of the Muslim world in order to further consolidate their position in the face of trans-regional colonial ambitions, the foremost of which is the expansionist Zionist scheme.”
Russia hails Syria’s return to Arab League
Russia also hailed the decision to reinstate its ally Syria’s membership to the Arab League.
“We think that the decision of the Council of Arab League Foreign Ministers has demonstrated the Arab countries’ aspiration to bolster coordination of actions in the interests of settling pertinent regional and international issues and confirmed their intent to continue conducting their independent policy on the global stage based on their core interests in the future,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.
The vote in the Egyptian capital came days after top Arab diplomats met in Jordan to discuss a roadmap to bring Syria back into its fold as the foreign-sponsored conflict is in its last stages.
The decision also includes a commitment to ongoing dialogue with Arab governments to gradually reach a political solution to the conflict, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
The Arab League also set up a communications committee consisting of Saudi Arabia and Syria’s neighbors Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq to follow up on the developments.
The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in November 2011, citing an alleged crackdown by Damascus on opposition protests. Syria has denounced the move as “illegal and a violation of the organization’s charter.”
Syria was one of the six founding members of the Arab League in 1945. In recent months, an increasing number of countries and political parties have called for the reversal of its suspension from the Arab League.
