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On Friday evening, March 10, 2023, Tunisian President Kais Saied announced his intention to restore severed diplomatic relations with Syria since 2012.
Saeed said during his meeting with Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar, “There is no justification for not having an ambassador of Tunisia in Damascus and an ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic in Tunisia,” according to a video clip published by the official website of the Tunisian presidency.
He added, “The issue of the regime in Syria concerns the Syrians alone, and Tunisia deals with the Syrian state and has absolutely nothing to do with the choices of the Syrian people.”
In February, Said announced his intention to “strengthen Tunisia’s diplomatic representation” in Syria.
Tunisia expelled the Damascus ambassador in 2012 in protest of the Syrian regime’s repression of its opponents at the beginning of the civil war.
Tunisian-Syrian relations were severed during the reign of former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, in a move that was met with strong criticism from the opposition.
In 2015, Tunisia took a step towards restoring diplomatic relations by appointing a consular representative to the Syrian regime to “follow up” the situation of Tunisians in Syria.
