Arab Parliament urges Arab League to reinstate Syria

The Arab Parliament has called on the Arab League to end its suspension of Syria’s membership at the 22-member pan-Arab body, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported on Friday.

The Cairo-based body suspended Syria's membership in November 2011 after a series of protests degenerated into a foreign-backed militancy which has plagued the country to this day.

“The decision to suspend the Syrian seat in the Arab League was, in my opinion, a very hasty decision,” Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in April.

Earlier this week, head of the Russian National Defense Management Center Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev said Syria should rejoin the Arab League in order to help support the process of a political solution to the ongoing crisis.

PressTV-Russia calls for Syria’s return to Arab League

A senior Russian official says Syria should rejoin the Arab League in order to help support the process of a political settlement and the return of refugees.

Some Arab countries have recently stepped up efforts to normalize ties with Syria as the country's troops have been making sweeping gains against foreign-backed terrorists.

In November, Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that the UAE was negotiating the reopening of its embassy in Syria and return of its envoy to Damascus.

A source in Damascus said Emirati officials had been meeting with the Syrian government over the issue.

An Emirati diplomat, the source said, was based permanently in Damascus, while other officials made regular visits to the Syrian capital.

Government forces and their allies now control most parts of Syria while anti-Damascus militants occupy just small pockets of territory on the country's fringes. 

Idlib and its surroundings are now the only significant area still held by Takfiri elements, with the US and its European allies sabotaging the Syrian army's plan to liberate it.

The US and its allies have repeatedly warned of an imminent chemical attack which they have used in the past to attack government positions whenever the Syrian army has geared up to retake Idlib.

On Thursday, the US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh terrorists said it will continue its operations in Syria.

"The Coalition mission in northeast Syria remains unchanged. We continue our normal operations, including observation posts in the border region to address the security concerns of our NATO ally Turkey," it said in a statement.

The alliance launched its aerial assaults in September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. The attacks have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.

'Syria humanitarian crisis should not be politicized'

On Friday, Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar al-Ja'afari called for an end to the politicization of the humanitarian situation in Syria through providing false information and turning a blind eye to realities on the ground.

"The humanitarian crisis emerged only in the areas where terrorist organizations are spread along with the illegitimate presence of foreign forces," he told a UN Security Council session.

Ja'afari also demanded that the Security Council assume its responsibility to immediately halt the US-led coalition's "illegitimate" attacks and systematic destruction of the infrastructure in Syria.

He further expressed Syria's determination to combat the remaining terrorist groups in Idlib and other areas and expel all foreign aggressors from the country.

“The Syrian government, people and army have a very clear image of who is an enemy and who is a friend as Syria realizes well that combating terrorism is a war imposed by the sponsors of terrorism," he said.

The war, he said, was launched to drain Syria's energy and press the enemy's unjust schemes "at the forefront the Palestinian cause" and push "the peoples of the region into bloody darkness, in which the extremist Wahhabi thought is its fuel."

"Syria will fail all these schemes," Ja'afari added.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk