As countries aligned to Saudi Arabia in the Middle East begin to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria, a bipartisan group of American congressmen has proposed legislation that would prevent the Biden administration from normalising relations with Syria.
A number of countries in the Middle East and the Western world broke ties with the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad after his government began violently cracking down on anti-regime protests in 2011, ultimately triggering the ongoing Syrian civil war.
The legislation proposed by Representative Joe Wilson from South Carolina would expand sanctions against Assad’s allies and prevent the lifting of sanctions already in place.
The move comes days after the Arab league voted to readmit Syria to the organisation, after expelling it in 2011.
[Image: Elizabeth Arrott – A View of Syria, Under Government Crackdown. VOA News photo gallery, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18118372]