Egypt wants to see the launch of a political process in Syria that will assist in putting an end to the years-long conflict in the country before Damascus's membership in the League of Arab States (LAS) could be restored, Mouhamed El Badri, the Egyptian assistant foreign minister for Arab affairs, said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th February, 2019) Egypt wants to see the launch of a political process in Syria that will assist in putting an end to the years-long conflict in the country before Damascus's membership in the League of Arab States (LAS) could be restored, Mouhamed El Badri, the Egyptian assistant foreign minister for Arab affairs, said on Tuesday.
"There have been some floating ideas about the return of Syria [to LAS]. Syria is an Arab country, and nothing is going to take away the identity of Syria as an Arab country ... What we are very much interested for this case is to see the political process that will end this war," El Badri said at a panel session of the Valdai discussion club's middle East conference.
The diplomat noted, however, that Cairo was bearing in mind that decisions on the future of the country, including on its leadership, should be made by the Syrian people.
Damascus's membership of the 22-nation Arab League was suspended following the beginning of the civil war in the country. Syria, which is one of the founding states of the Arab League, condemned the decision, considering the move illegal. Since then, Damascus has not been participating in the work of the organization.
A source in Brussels told Sputnik on February 5 that Egypt was one of the seven countries that would welcome Syria's return to the Arab League. Moreover, Omani Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah said on Monday that Oman, another league member, believed that it was necessary to reinstate Syria in LAS as well.
The director of the LAS center in Tunisia told Sputnik in early February that the issue of Syria's possible return to the organization could be added to the agenda of the upcoming LAS summit and ministerial meeting in March.
