US senator slams countries normalizing ties with Syria's Assad

WASHINGTON

US Senator Jim Risch on Tuesday slammed countries who he said are normalizing relations with the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

The Republican senator from the state of Idaho said those nations should work to implement a UN Security Council-adopted resolution on a road map for a peace process in Syria.

"It is shameful that a growing number of countries are open to normalizing relations w/ #Assad. The #UAE and others that are ignoring the ongoing violence against #Syrian civilians should work towards implementing #UNSCR2254 before taking any further steps toward normalization," Risch tweeted.

The tweet from the senator, who is a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, came days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his United Arab Emirates counterpart and discussed a range of issues.

Blinken and Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan met Nov. 3 on the margins of the 26th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.

During the meeting, regional issues were discussed, including developments in Lebanon and Syria, according to the State Department.

In March 2011, popular protests erupted in Syria, calling for the start of a peaceful transfer of power, but the Assad regime chose to suppress the demonstrations militarily, which pushed the country into a devastating civil war.