US will not normalise or upgrade diplomatic ties with Syria

Washington suspended its diplomatic presence in Syria in 2012 and then placed sanctions on President al-Assad’s gov’t

The United States has no plans to “normalise or upgrade” diplomatic relations with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and also does not encourage others to do so, a US State Department spokesperson has said.

The comments came in response to questions from the Reuters news agency on whether Washington was encouraging and supporting a rapprochement between Jordan and Syria after Jordan fully reopened its main border crossing with Syria on Wednesday.

The move was to boost the countries’ struggling economies and reinforce a push by Arab states to reintegrate Syria after it was shunned during the civil war.