DAMASCUS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th September, 2018) Syria will decide on the country's membership in the League of Arab States after the organization undertakes some steps in this direction, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in an interview released on Sunday.
Syria's membership in the organization was suspended by a decision of the Arab League's foreign ministers in 2011. The step was taken due to anti-government demonstrations in Syria and the refusal of the Syrian authorities to follow the road map for the crisis settlement proposed by the group.
"First of all, those, who closed the door to Syria's membership in the Arab League, should, first of all, open it. And then we would decide whether we join [the organization] or not," Muallem told the RT broadcaster answering a question about the country's return to the organization.
The armed conflict in Syria has been ongoing since 2011. In late 2017, the victory over the IS terrorist group was declared in Syria and Iraq. The operations aimed at elimination of remnants of terrorism still continue in certain areas of the two countries. The political settlement in Syria, the country's reconstruction and the issue of refugees' return have recently came to the forefront of the international efforts.
