LONDON: The Syrian Arab Republic officially reopened its embassy in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, on Thursday after a hiatus of nearly 14 years. Morocco severed diplomatic ties with Syria and declared the country’s ambassador persona non grata in 2012, following the brutal suppression by former president Bashar Assad of protests demanding social justice, and the subsequent outbreak of the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011 and continued until the fall of Assad’s regime in December 2024.