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Consultations on renewal of Syria's LAS membership kick off in Saudi Jeddah — TV

The consultations are being held under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman

DUBAI, April 15. /TASS/. The foreign ministers of the Persian Gulf countries, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq gathered in the Saudi city of Jeddah for a meeting on the renewal of Syria's full membership in the League of Arab States (LAS), according to a Al Ekhbariya TV broadcast of the meeting.

The consultations are being held under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad held talks with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Jeddah on Wednesday. This is the first visit of a high-ranking Syrian official to Saudi Arabia since 2011. On the eve of the meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said that he saw no reason for Syria to return to the LAS.

Damascus' membership in the LAS was suspended in November 2011 at the height of the Syrian civil war. Most Arab countries, unable to secure concessions from the Syrian authorities in favor of the opposition, recalled their ambassadors and joined the economic boycott of the country. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and a number of other states provided financial and military aid to armed groups opposing the Syrian government during the conflict. Recently, a number of Arab countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, and Oman, have reopened their diplomatic missions in Damascus, but the issue of Syria's renewed membership in the LAS remains controversial among its members.

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