Syria will reopen its embassy in Kuwait, with three diplomats already arriving in the Gulf state, according to the Associated Press newswire.
However, an undersecretary at Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry, Khaled Al Jarallah, has reportedly said the reopening of the embassy did not indicate a normalisation of relations with Syria and said Kuwaiti diplomats would not be returning to Damascus.
Kuwait, home to tens of thousands of Syrians before and after the civil war, has been a strong opponent of President Bashar Al Assad and has actively supported factions of the opposition attempting to remove him from power.
The Gulf state closed its embassy in Damascus when the crisis began in March 2011.
The Syrian embassy in Kuwait did not close until March this year. Two years earlier, demonstrators stormed the Syrian Embassy compound in Kuwait City, breaking windows and hoisting the green-striped flag of the anti-Assad opposition, amid calls for the expulsion of the Syrian diplomats.
The Assad regime also has suspended consular services in countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the US, making it difficult for hundreds of thousands of Syrians to renew official documents such as passports and residency visas.
The UAE embassy remains open and is dealing with requests from Syrians living in other Gulf states.
An anonymous official who spoke to Associated Press said the diplomats who had returned to Kuwait included a charge d’affairs, a diplomat who heads an embassy in the absence of the ambassador.
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