Syrian regime foreign minister to visit Tunisia amid regional normalisation efforts

Syrian regime Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad will arrive in Tunisia on Monday on an official visit on the invitation from his Tunisian counterpart, Tunisia's foreign ministry said on its official Facebook account on Sunday.

Mekdad's trip to Tunisia comes after his visit to neighboring Algeria on Saturday amid a regional push to normalise relations with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Saudi Arabia has been at the forefront of accelerating Arab efforts to normalise relations with Assad. Mekdad visited Riyadh earlier this week for the first time since the Syrian conflict began in 2011.

The top Assad regime diplomat met with Saudi foreign ministers to discuss "the necessary steps to achieve a complete political settlement to the Syrian crisis", with the aim of reinstating Syria’s isolated government back to the fold of the Arab League, according to a statement by the Saudi foreign ministry.

Meanwhile, representatives of nine Arab countries - including Egypt and Jordan - met in Jeddah on Friday to discuss allowing the Syrian regime to attend an Arab League summit in May.

The Assad regime was expelled from the regional bloc following its killing of protesters and civilians after peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations broke out in 2011.

A devastating conflict broke out in Syria following the regime's crackdown, leading to the death of over 500,000 people and the displacement of millions more, mostly as a result of regime bombardment of civilian areas.