Syria raises flag at embassy in Libyan capital after 13-year closure

TRIPOLI, Libya/ISTANBUL

Syria raised a flag over its embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Wednesday, ahead of reopening the mission after a 13-year closure.

“We are pleased to have been entrusted with raising the Syrian flag over the embassy in Tripoli after an absence of more than 13 years,” Mohammad al-Jaffal, the head of a Syrian diplomatic delegation, said in a statement.

“We will continue providing services to the community… and after maintenance work is completed, the embassy will open its doors,” he added.

Regarding a Libyan plan to exempt Syrians from taxes, Jaffal said the decision “will be issued very soon.”

“The Syrian technical delegation in Libya is the only body representing the Syrian state in Libya, and any other groups do not represent Syria,” he added.

In early August, the Syrian Foreign Ministry announced sending a technical delegation to Libya “to settle the legal status of Syrian citizens.”

“After the delegation completed raising the Syrian flag over the embassy building in Tripoli, the next stage will be reopening the embassy and providing all consular services to the Syrian community in Libya,” Jaffal told Anadolu after the ceremony.

“There are several files awaiting the Syrian mission in Tripoli, including the issue of illegal migration, which is a very sensitive matter for Syria, the region, and without doubt for Libya.”

Libyan Foreign Ministry official Taher Hussein hailed the planned reopening of the Syrian Embassy in Tripoli.

“Today, we are reopening the embassy of sisterly Syria and restoring relations between the two brotherly peoples,” he told Anadolu.

The Syrian Embassy was closed in 2012, after the Libyan Transitional Council at the time recognized the Syrian revolution, severing ties with Damascus during the rule of Bashar al-Assad.

After Assad’s fall in December 2024, a Libyan delegation visited Syria to meet with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

In April, Sharaa and Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh met on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Türkiye and agreed to activate a joint higher committee to enhance cooperation between the two countries.