Syrian FM reopens London embassy during first official UK visit –

Asaad al-Shaibani, a co-founder of Al-Qaeda in Syria, held talks with British officials and met members of the Syrian community in the UK.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani announced the reopening of the Syrian embassy in London on 13 November, one day after arriving in the UK.

“After years of isolation imposed by Assad’s chemical regime, today we reopen the Syrian embassy in London. Syria is returning to the world with its free identity,” said the foreign minister, one of the founders of Al-Qaeda in Syria alongside President Ahmad al-Sharaa. Shaibani also met with members of the Syrian community in London.

The foreign minister arrived in London on 12 November after accompanying Sharaa on his trip to Washington this week, where they met with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

This was the first official Syrian visit to the UK in decades.

Before the trip, Syrian state news agency SANA said Shaibani will hold “talks with a number of British officials during the visit,” without further specifying his schedule.

The UK closed its embassy in Damascus and cut diplomatic ties with Syria in 2012, following the start of the western, Turkish, and Gulf-backed war to topple former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

In July 2025, eight months after Assad’s government fell, London announced the restoration of ties with Syria.

The reopening of the Syrian embassy comes a week after the UK lifted terror-related sanctions on Sharaa and his Interior Minister, Anas Khattab – also a former leader in Al-Qaeda. On 7 March 2025, London announced the lifting of sanctions on 24 entities in Syria, including the country’s central bank, making it the first country to unfreeze all Syrian central bank assets.

Sanctions on the state airliner and state-owned oil firms were also removed on 6 March.

This came as Syrian government forces were carrying out brutal massacres against Alawite civilians on the country’s coast.

In April, London lifted more of its sanctions that were imposed on Syria when Assad was still in power.

The Cradle Media report