OIC restores Syria's membership after more than decade of suspension

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has reinstated Syria’s membership after more than a decade of suspension, amid the new Syrian authorities’ integration into the international community.

According to the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA), at the OIC’s 20th extraordinary session in Jeddah this week, the Council of Foreign Ministers of the organisation’s member states decided to reinstate the membership of Syria.

The move comes 13 years after Damascus initially had its membership suspended in 2012, in response to the late Assad regime’s brutal crackdown on protests and its killing and torture of civilians.

Now, three months after the collapse of that regime and the former rebels’ assumption of power in Syria, the restoration of the country’s OIC membership further marks the international community’s growing recognition of the new Syrian authorities.

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