Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday the return of its diplomatic representation in Syria. A first since 2012, the Damascus regime having been isolated because of the civil war.
The oil-rich Gulf monarchy has recently moved closer to Syria as well as Iran, a major supporter of President Bashar al-Assad. Syria's return to the Arab League gives "a green light to more brutality on the part of this regime whose behavior will not change," the Syrian opposition representative in Qatar said on Tuesday. The war has claimed an estimated half a million lives.