Omer Asur Cuhadar and Rania Abushamala
30 August 2026•Update: 30 August 2026
Syria reopened its embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Sunday after a closure lasting more than 14 years, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani officially inaugurated the embassy during a ceremony attended by Arab and foreign diplomats and officials.
The agency said the move is part of a series of successive measures by the Syrian state to reorganize and reactivate its diplomatic missions abroad and attend to the interests of its citizens overseas.
It said the Syrian community in Libya is estimated at around 200,000 people, spread across the country but with significant presence in Tripoli and Benghazi.
Shaibani said the reopening of the embassy reflected the importance and standing of Syrian-Libyan relations, and paved the way for regularizing the status of Syrians in Libya.
Taher Al-Baour, who is responsible for managing Libya’s Foreign Ministry and international cooperation, said reopening the mission was a “positive step” toward returning relations to their normal course and developing them further.
Shaibani also met Libyan Prime Minister Abd al-Hamid Dbeibeh to discuss ways to develop bilateral relations, according to a statement from the media office of Libya’s Government of National Unity.
In August 2025, a Syrian technical and diplomatic delegation to Libya announced that the country’s flag had been raised over the Syrian Embassy building in Tripoli in preparation for its reopening.
The embassy closed in 2012, and relations remained severed during the rule of Bashar al-Assad.
On Dec. 8, 2024, Syrian factions took control of Damascus after capturing other cities, ending 61 years of Baath Party rule and 53 years of rule by the Assad family.
