The flag of the Syrian Arab Republic was raised above its embassy in London on Thursday, marking the official reopening of the mission after more than ten years of closure.
Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani presided over the ceremony at the embassy building in central London. As the flag was hoisted, chants of “Allahu Akbar” rang out from the gathered crowd.
Posting on X, al-Shaibani wrote: “After years of isolation imposed by Assad’s chemical regime, today we reopen the Syrian Embassy in London. Syria returns to the world under its free identity.”
The embassy had been closed since 2013, when the UK severed diplomatic relations with Damascus amid the Syrian conflict. Its reopening follows Britain’s recent decision to lift sanctions on President Ahmad al-Sharaa, after the UN Security Council took a similar step.
The reopening comes just days after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with US President Donald Trump at the White House - the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to Washington. The meeting, also attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, focused on developing relations between the two countries and regional security matters. President Trump later said he was confident in al-Sharaa’s ability to “do the job,” adding, “People say he’s had a rough past. We’ve all had a rough past.”
The embassy’s return also follows the UK government’s recent decision to remove Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group formerly led by al-Sharaa, from its list of proscribed terrorist organizations. The move, part of a broader shift in Western engagement with Syria’s new leadership, was aimed at encouraging cooperation to dismantle remnants of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons program.
The UK government has not commented publicly on the embassy reopening or its diplomatic implications.
Witnesses at the event expressed strong emotions, with one attendee telling Anadolu that the Syrian people had “been waiting for this moment for a very long time.”