Abbas agrees to return of Syria to Arab League

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to the readmission of head of Syrian regime Bashar Al-Assad to the Arab League, Sputnik reported yesterday.

“We support Syria’s return to the Arab League, and we hope that this goal will be achieved through consultations between the Arab states,” he told the Russian news agency.

He added: “We have always advocated the unity and well-being of the Syrian territories, and the end of the conflict through dialogue.”

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Abbas denied reports that he is planning to visit Syria soon. “There are no plans to visit Syria in the near future; but I’m keeping a close eye on what’s happening there, especially as half a million Palestinian refugees live there.”

“Together with the Syrian state and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) we’re engaged in the reconstruction of the Yarmouk camp in order to get those who have left the place back as soon as possible.”

Sputnik reported sources saying that “at least eight members of the Arab League, including Lebanon, Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain” view positively the “return of Syria to the Arab League.”

In November 2011, Syria was suspended from the Arab League over its failure to end the bloodshed caused by brutal government crackdowns on pro-democracy protests.

READ: 82 Palestinians tortured to death in Syria prisons in 2018 

Unfortunately, the Assad response turned the peaceful revolution to a civil war that claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people and hundreds of thousands wounded and millions displaced internally and externally.

The war in Syria has killed more than 560,000 people, the vast majority by regime-allied forces. The Al-Assad government has used chemical weapons against civilians on scores of occasions, with tens of thousands in prison facing torture and execution. Despite the regime calling for refugees to return to the country, over one million people are still listed as wanted on government databases, with those Syrians who supported the opposition fearing state reprisals.