The UK has fully re-established relations with Syria 14 years after severing ties with the former government of Bashar al-Assad.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy was photographed shaking hands with the country’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus.
“The UK is re-establishing diplomatic relations because it is in our interests to support the new government to deliver their commitment to build a stable, more secure and prosperous future for all Syrians,” Lammy said in a statement.
Photos released by Sharaa’s office also showed Lammy meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
The presidency said they discussed “bilateral ties… and ways of strengthening cooperation, as well as regional and international developments”.
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Lammy said the UK wanted to back a stable Syria as a means of “reducing the risk of irregular migration, ensuring the destruction of chemical weapons” and “tackling the threat of terrorism”.
The British Foreign Office said the UK had also committed an extra $129m to provide “urgent humanitarian aid” and support Syria’s reconstruction and countries hosting Syrian refugees.
In December, after a brutal 14-year civil war, Sharaa’s rebel forces, who had been in control of Idlib, toppled Damascus, ending the Assad dynasty.
Assad fled with his family to Moscow.Â
Sharaa was previously head of Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate and its successor organisation Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
HTS remains listed on the UK’s proscribed organisations list as an “alternative name” for al-Qaeda, though the group was officially dissolved in January.
