Italy Becomes First G-7 Country To Restore Ties With Assad

In a huge development, Italy has broken with its G-7 partners and become the first to restore full diplomatic relations with Syria.

President Bashar al-Assad and his government have long been under US and EU sanctions, having been accused of human rights abuses and war crimes by the West, which funded a decade-long jihadist insurgency in a failed attempt to topple the Syrian leader.

"Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country," Associated Press reports.

Italy has not had an ambassador in residence in Damascus in over a decade, like other Western countries. Again, this makes Italy under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni the first Group of Seven nation to formally return to the Syrian capital.

Its diplomatic staff initially withdrew from the embassy in Damascus in 2012. It suspended all relations in protest against the Assad government. But lately Italy has been among EU nations to have a change of heart, urging the bloc to reengage and take a more proactive stance on Syria. At this point a total of six EU embassies are active in Damascus.

Some Gulf countries, most notably the UAE and more recently Saudi Arabia, have also restored relations and returned their ambassadors.

Washington has meanwhile under multiple administrations tried to lobby foreign allies to stay the course in isolating Damascus and keeping up the sanctions, despite an occasional Iranian oil tanker offloading to Syria's Mediterranean ports.

But the tide appears to be turning as a number of European countries, many in the EU and NATO, are increasingly acknowledging that Assad is 'here to stay' and thus they must work with Syria instead of warring against it.

A recent report in Israel's YNet News says "Foreign ministers from Italy, Cyprus, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece and Croatia have drafted a position paper calling for a change in the European Union’s approach to Syria, namely lifting sanctions and renewing diplomatic ties with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad."

"Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and his counterparts argue that the EU’s humanitarian aid policy has failed," the report underscored.

We explained earlier that longtime critics of the West's drive for regime change have pointed out the years-long contradiction in policy: the EU allowed arms and ammo to be shipped into Syria (into the hands of anti-Assad jihadist insurgents), all while hand-wringing about the humanitarian and migrant crisis that resulted.

But increasingly these same powers are admitting that sanctions have only served to starve and compound the suffering for the common populace, and have in no way actually weakened the government's grip on the country.