‘Opening a new chapter’: Syria reopens embassy in Libya after talks

Published On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026.

Key points

• Syrian opposition forces ousted al-Assad in December 2024, ending 61 years of Baath Party rule.
• In August 2025, a Syrian delegation raised the post-Assad Syrian flag over the Tripoli embassy, signalling that its reopening was imminent.
• Al-Shaibani arrived in Tripoli on Sunday to meet with Libyan authorities, according to a statement from Libya's Administration of National Unity (GNU).
• Dbeibah and al-Shaibani additionally agreed to open a Syrian consulate in Benghazi, raising the level of diplomatic representation between the two states.
• Representatives of Libya's rival governments signed a accord on Sunday to hold national elections within two years.

Syria and Libya have agreed to reopen Syria's embassy in Tripoli. It has been closed for 14 years, and reactivate a committee for coordinating bilateral ties during discussions between Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah of Libya's internationally recognised administration and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani.

Libya has been split since 2014 between the Tripoli-based Administration of National Unity, led by Dbeibah, and an eastern administration, led by Osama Hammad and backed by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar. Representatives of Libya's rival governments signed a accord on Sunday to hold national elections within two years.

Damascus and Tripoli signed an agreement to reactivate the Libyan-Syrian Joint Higher Committee, a committee at the prime ministerial level tasked with coordinating political, economic and social ties between the two countries.

For context, the discussions covered security cooperation and counterterrorism, according to the GNU statement. The two sides additionally discussed consular services and the status of prisoners, detainees and refugees from both countries.

Economically, they addressed unresolved financial dues between Libyan and Syrian institutions. The Syrian foreign minister additionally met with Libya's oil and gas minister and the country's investment authority chief to discuss energy and investment cooperation.

In practice, the Syrian embassy in Libya has been closed since 2012 after Libya's then-Transitional National Council recognised the Syrian opposition and diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed during then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Dbeibah called Sunday's session the start of "a new chapter" in their relations, saying it should be "based on shared interests, practical cooperation and addressing outstanding issues".

Taken together, the developments around 'Opening a new chapter': Syria reopens embassy in Libya after talks point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.