Yesterday, a new meeting on Syria kicked off in Amman with the participation of the foreign ministers of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt. Prior to the meeting, which is taking place in an Amman hotel under strict security measures, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met with his Syrian counterpart Faisal al-Mikdad, according to an AFP correspondent.
Al-Safadi and Al-Miqdad discussed “efforts to put forward the leading role of the Arabs in achieving a political solution to the Syrian crisis,” according to a statement released later by the Jordanian foreign ministry. This is the first official visit by a Syrian foreign minister to Jordan since the outbreak of conflict in his country in 2011.
Al-Safadi received Egyptian Foreign Ministers Sameh Shukri, Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan and Iraq Fuad Hussein before entering the closed “consultative” meeting room.
The meeting is a continuation of the consultative meeting of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt in Jeddah, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said.
In mid-April, a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, also attended by Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, was held in Jeddah to discuss the return of Syria to the Arab League, about a month before the Arab summit in Saudi Arabia. .
Arab ministers attending the meeting in Jeddah agreed on the importance of Arabs taking the lead in efforts to end the crisis in Syria. A few days after the meeting, the Saudi foreign minister visited Damascus, marking the first official visit by Saudi Arabia to Syria since the rift between the two countries with the start of the conflict in Syria 12 years ago.
Several Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, have closed their embassies and recalled their ambassadors from Syria to protest the Syrian regime’s handling of a “popular uprising” in 2011 that escalated into a bloody conflict in which Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries supported the Syrian opposition.
The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in November 2011.
