Morocco has announced plans to reopen its embassy in Damascus, marking a significant step towards renewed relations with Syria after the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad. The move comes as both countries signal a willingness to re-establish formal diplomatic ties, more than a decade after severing relations.
The announcement was delivered on Saturday in a letter from Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. The message, read out by Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita at an Arab League summit in Baghdad, reaffirmed Morocco’s support for “the Syrian people in their quest for freedom, security, and stability.”
In a corresponding statement, Syria’s foreign ministry confirmed that Syrian and Moroccan foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the summit and agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations. Damascus also announced it would initiate procedures to reopen its embassy in Rabat.
The move comes after years of estrangement. Rabat cut ties with Damascus in 2012 in protest against Assad’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protests, which sparked a devastating civil war. That conflict, which erupted in 2011, ultimately led to the deaths of over 500,000 people and displaced millions, both internally and abroad.
Assad’s government was toppled in December 2024 in a rapid offensive led by Islamist-aligned rebel factions. His removal has prompted a shift in regional dynamics, with some Arab nations now seeking to re-engage diplomatically with Syria’s new leadership.
The restoration of diplomatic ties between Morocco and Syria signals a broader regional recalibration in the aftermath of Assad’s downfall, with several Arab states reassessing their foreign policy approaches to Damascus.