DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Britain has officially restored full diplomatic relations with Syria, more than ten years after severing ties amid a Western-backed conflict aimed at destabilizing the Arab nation.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Syria’s de facto leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani in Damascus Saturday, marking a significant but controversial shift in UK policy.
The decision comes despite extensive evidence of war crimes and brutal repression under the current Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) regime, particularly against minority communities such as the Alawites, who have suffered targeted violence.
Last week, Reuters said its investigation had found that fighting units associated with HTS played a key role in the mass killing of Alawite civilians on the Syrian coast last March.
The British news outlet stated that between 7 and 10 March, “1,479 Syrian Alawites were killed and dozens were missing from 40 distinct sites of revenge killings, rampages and looting.”
The investigation found that armed units associated with HTS, the former al-Qaeda affiliate led by Jolani, participated in the killings in at least 10 sites, where nearly 900 people were killed.
During an interview with Al Jazeera in 2015, Jolani vowed to kill any Alawites who refused to convert.
London originally cut diplomatic ties in 2011 following the Syrian government’s efforts to maintain law and order amid terrorist uprisings fueled and armed by Western powers. The UK also imposed sanctions and took part in military actions targeting Syrian forces.
Following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 by a foreign-backed offensive led by Jolani, Britain has begun easing sanctions and re-engaging diplomatically.
Foreign Secretary Lammy framed Britain’s renewed ties as a way to support Syria’s sovereignty, reduce illegal migration caused by Western-led chaos, combat terrorism, and ensure the destruction of leftover chemical weapons.
Yet critics warn that Britain’s re-engagement risks legitimizing a regime with a history of links to the most brutal terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh.
Despite the concerns, Britain has pledged over $129 million in aid to assist the current regime in rebuilding the war-torn country.
Critics of Britain’s policy shift say the pledge ignores the broader context of Western aggression and the role of foreign-backed terrorist groups that wrought devastation across Syria.
Britain’s move follows similar steps by the United States, which is lifting sanctions and preparing to remove Syria and its turncoat leaders from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Based on Western media reports, the U.S. government’s conditions to lift sanctions against Syria include normalizing relations with Israel through signing the Abraham Accords and expelling Palestinian resistance factions from the country.