Western Diplomats: European Envoys Move to Resume Syria Contacts

BEIRUT- European ambassadors and intelligence officials are making discreet trips to the Syrian capital, Damascus in a bid to resume diplomatic contacts with the Syrian government, Western diplomats said, according to Press TV.

Syria’s Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Faisal Mikdad has stressed in a recent interview with the CNN that “contacts are being made to open embassies (in Damascus) and most of Syria’s embassies abroad are still open, with the exception of those that Damascus does not want to open,” Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Faisal Mikdad

“Since May, little by little, we have begun to return, at first cautiously for a day, then two, then three,” AFP quoted a European ambassador to Syria who has been based in Beirut since December 2012.

”Now we are going once or twice a month,” added the ambassador who was speaking on condition of anonymity on Friday.

“I think that in the first quarter of 2014, you’re going to see many of my European colleagues returning on the road to Damascus,” the diplomat added.

Envoys from Austria, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the EU’s charge d’ affairs now make regular trips to Damascus.

The European envoy went on to say that the upcoming Geneva II conference aimed at ending the crisis in Syria “will be a good reason for them to return.

According to reports, western intelligence services have also been making contact with their Syrian counterparts to test old ties.

In a different context, Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted another Western diplomat as stressing that the presence of more than a thousand “jihadists” (terrorists) who have come from Europe to fight in Syria is a serious concern for the countries they come from.”

H. Mustafa