Arab League foreign ministers adopted a decision to readmit Syria after more than a decade of suspension on Sunday, a spokesperson for the League said, consolidating a regional push to normalise ties with President Bashar al-Assad.
The decision was made at a closed meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo, said Gamal Roshdy, spokesman for the Arab League's secretary general.
Syria's membership of the Arab League was suspended in 2011 after a bloody crackdown on street protests against Assad that led to a devastating civil war, and many Arab states pulled their envoys out of Damascus.
Recently, several Arab states including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have re-engaged with Syria in high-level visits and meetings, though some, including Qatar, remain opposed to full normalisation without a political solution to Syria's conflict.
Arab states have been trying to reach consensus on whether to invite Assad to an Arab League Summit on May 19 in Riyadh to discuss the pace of normalising ties and on what terms Syria will be allowed back.
One of Afghanistan's worst earthquakes killed more than 800 people and injured at least 2,800, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital after they were plucked from the rubble of homes being combed for survivors.
Israel pushed tanks deeper into Gaza City and detonated explosives-laden vehicles in one suburb as airstrikes killed at least 19 people on Monday, Palestinian officials and witnesses said.
India's Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin on Monday that India and Russia stood shoulder to shoulder even in difficult times after the Kremlin chief cast the Indian prime minister as his "dear friend" and gave him a lift in his armoured limousine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged leaders to leverage their "mega-scale market", while Russian President Vladimir Putin showed support for Xi's ambition for a new global security and economic order that poses a challenge to the US during a regional summit on Monday.
South Korea has suspended a military radio broadcast that transmits to North Korea as part of measures aimed at easing tensions with Pyongyang, Seoul's defence ministry said on Monday.
Broadcasting every weekday, Georgia Tolley goes beyond the headlines to speak to government ministers, decision makers, analysts and local experts to find out how the news will impact those of us living in the UAE.
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