Saudi Arabia and Syria have agreed to reopen their embassies more than a decade after severing diplomatic ties, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Contacts between Riyadh and Damascus have accelerated after the historic agreement to restore diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran (the Islamic Republic is among the main allies of President Bashar al-Assad).

The restoration of diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Damascus will be the most significant development in the Arab states’ efforts to normalize relations with Assad, whom they have marginalized since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

Both governments are “preparing to reopen their embassies after Eid al-Fitr” (the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan at the end of April), a Damascus source told Reuters.

The decision came after contacts in Saudi Arabia with a senior Syrian intelligence official, two sources said.

The Saudi government’s public relations secretariat, the kingdom’s foreign ministry and the Syrian government did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

However, Saudi state television confirmed that talks were underway with the Syrian Foreign Ministry to resume consular services, citing a foreign ministry spokesman in Riyadh.

The United States, an ally of Saudi Arabia, opposes Arab efforts to normalize relations with President Assad. The US government and several of its allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have backed anti-regime forces in Syria. But the Assad government has been able to quell the uprising in much of Syria, thanks in part to support from Iran and Russia.

The United Arab Emirates has taken the initiative to immediately restore relations with the Syrian government, and President Assad recently visited the country with his wife.

Saudi Arabia acted with greater caution. A Gulf diplomat told Reuters that a senior Syrian official “stayed for several days” in the Saudi capital before an agreement was reached to open the two countries’ embassies “in the near future.”

A few days ago, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud mentioned the possibility of normalizing relations between Riyadh and Damascus, noting that this could lead to the lifting of the blockade of Syria by the Arab League.

The diplomat argued that contacts between Riyadh and Damascus could pave the way for a vote on it at the upcoming Arab League meeting expected to take place in April in Saudi Arabia.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.