US Has No Plans to Upgrade Diplomatic Ties With Syria, Despite Jordan Move

The United States is not planning to normalize or upgrade its diplomatic relations with Syria and its president Bashar Assad, according to the US State Department. The US government suspended diplomatic relations with the Assad-led government in 2012, at the start of the country’s civil war, which is ongoing, and imposed sanctions on the Assad government. The question of renewing ties comes after Jordan opened its main border crossing with Syria earlier this week, the first time that the Jaber border crossing has been fully open since the start of the country’s decade long civil war, signaling a possible thawing in relations. In response to a query from Reuters, an unnamed State Department source wrote: “The United States will not normalize or upgrade our diplomatic relations with the Assad regime nor do we encourage others to do so, given the atrocities inflicted by the Assad regime on the Syrian people.”