TRIPOLI — Syria and Libya have agreed to reopen Syria’s embassy in Tripoli after talks between Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah of Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani.Dbeibah called Sunday’s meeting the start of “a new chapter” in their relations, saying it should be “based on shared interests, practical cooperation and addressing outstanding issues”.Al-Shaibani, who arrived in Tripoli on Sunday, hailed the reopening of his country’s embassy in the Libyan capital, which had been closed for more than a decade.“Today, this embassy returns to reaffirm the importance and value of the Syrian-Libyan relationship,” Shaibani said after the talks with Prime Minister Dbeibah and Taher Al-Baour, Libya’s acting foreign minister.Last year, a delegation from Damascus symbolically reopened the embassy, which was shut in 2012, but it did not immediately resume consular services.Dbeibah and al-Shaibani also agreed to open a Syrian consulate in Benghazi, raising the level of diplomatic representation between the two states.Relations between the two countries had been upended by Syria’s civil war and the chaos that followed the fall of longtime Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.Syria’s new authorities took power in December 2024 when they ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad after nearly 14 years of war.“This embassy will handle the administrative follow-up for Syrians who took refuge in Libya during the years of war, at a time when there was no longer any diplomatic representation, since Tripoli had broken off relations with the former regime,” Shaibani said.According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, the Syrian community in Libya is estimated at around 200,000 people.Shaibani said the two countries “also agreed to strengthen security coordination to combat illegal immigration, as well as drugs and terrorist organizations.”Libya has been split since 2014 between the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, led by Dbeibah, and an eastern administration, led by Osama Hammad and backed by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar. Representatives of Libya’s rival governments signed a deal on Sunday to hold national elections within two years.Damascus and Tripoli signed an agreement to reactivate the Libyan-Syrian Joint Higher Committee, a committee at the prime ministerial level tasked with coordinating political, economic and social ties between the two countries.The talks covered security cooperation and counterterrorism, according to the GNU statement. The two sides also discussed consular services and the status of prisoners, detainees and refugees from both countries.Economically, they addressed unresolved financial dues between Libyan and Syrian institutions. The Syrian foreign minister also met with Libya’s oil and gas minister and the country’s investment authority chief to discuss energy and investment cooperation.TRIPOLI — Syria and Libya have agreed to reopen Syria’s embassy in Tripoli after talks between Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah of Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani.Dbeibah called Sunday’s meeting the start of “a new chapter” in their relations, saying it should be “based on shared interests, practical cooperation and addressing outstanding issues”.Al-Shaibani, who arrived in Tripoli on Sunday, hailed the reopening of his country’s embassy in the Libyan capital, which had been closed for more than a decade.“Today, this embassy returns to reaffirm the importance and value of the Syrian-Libyan relationship,” Shaibani said after the talks with Prime Minister Dbeibah and Taher Al-Baour, Libya’s acting foreign minister.Last year, a delegation from Damascus symbolically reopened the embassy, which was shut in 2012, but it did not immediately resume consular services.Dbeibah and al-Shaibani also agreed to open a Syrian consulate in Benghazi, raising the level of diplomatic representation between the two states.Relations between the two countries had been upended by Syria’s civil war and the chaos that followed the fall of longtime Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.Syria’s new authorities took power in December 2024 when they ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad after nearly 14 years of war.“This embassy will handle the administrative follow-up for Syrians who took refuge in Libya during the years of war, at a time when there was no longer any diplomatic representation, since Tripoli had broken off relations with the former regime,” Shaibani said.According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, the Syrian community in Libya is estimated at around 200,000 people.Shaibani said the two countries “also agreed to strengthen security coordination to combat illegal immigration, as well as drugs and terrorist organizations.”Libya has been split since 2014 between the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, led by Dbeibah, and an eastern administration, led by Osama Hammad and backed by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar. Representatives of Libya’s rival governments signed a deal on Sunday to hold national elections within two years.Damascus and Tripoli signed an agreement to reactivate the Libyan-Syrian Joint Higher Committee, a committee at the prime ministerial level tasked with coordinating political, economic and social ties between the two countries.The talks covered security cooperation and counterterrorism, according to the GNU statement. The two sides also discussed consular services and the status of prisoners, detainees and refugees from both countries.Economically, they addressed unresolved financial dues between Libyan and Syrian institutions. The Syrian foreign minister also met with Libya’s oil and gas minister and the country’s investment authority chief to discuss energy and investment cooperation.
Syria and Libya start 'a new chapter' in relations with Tripoli embassy reopening
