The announcement was made by the Syrian Foreign Minister himself through a post on the social network X, in which he shared a photograph of himself waving from the balcony of the diplomatic mission alongside the national flag.

After years of isolation, today we reopen the Syrian Embassy in London. “The country returns to the world with its identity free,” Al-Shaibani wrote in his message.

The closure of the Syrian diplomatic mission in the British capital dates back to May 2012, when the UK government expelled the then-Ambassador from Damascus, Sami Al-Khaimi, along with the remaining Syrian diplomats, in protest against the violence in Syria.

Prior to that action, Ambassador Al-Khaimi had already left London at the end of 2011, after being recalled for consultations by his government.

For its part, the UK had closed its embassy in Damascus two months earlier, in March 2012, and withdrawn all its diplomatic staff due to the deteriorating security situation in the Syrian capital.

According to the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Al-Shaibani’s visit to London aims to “open official channels of communication” with the British government and lay the groundwork for constructive dialogue in a new phase of the Arab country’s foreign policy.

The reopening of the Syrian Embassy in the UK comes amid a growing diplomatic dynamism from Damascus, following recent rapprochements with various Western capitals.

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