Syria and Libya have agreed to reopen the Syrian embassy in Tripoli after a 14-year closure and to reactivate a joint high committee to coordinate bilateral relations. The agreement was reached during a meeting between Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, according to a statement from Libya's Government of National Unity (GNU).
Al-Shaibani arrived in Tripoli on Sunday (August 31) for talks with Libyan officials. The two sides signed an agreement to reestablish the Libya-Syria joint committee at the prime ministerial level, tasked with coordinating political, economic, and social ties between the two countries. Additionally, the sides agreed to open a Syrian consulate in Benghazi, upgrading diplomatic representation.
The talks covered security cooperation and counterterrorism, consular affairs, as well as the situation of prisoners, detainees, and refugees on both sides. On the economic front, the two sides discussed outstanding financial obligations between Libyan and Syrian institutions. The Syrian foreign minister also met with Libya's oil minister and the head of the national investment authority to exchange views on energy and investment cooperation.
The Syrian embassy in Libya had been closed since 2012, after Libya's National Transitional Council recognized the Syrian opposition and the two countries severed diplomatic ties under President Bashar al-Assad. Following the opposition's ouster of al-Assad in December 2024, a Syrian delegation raised the new flag at the embassy in Tripoli in August 2025, signaling the imminent reopening.
Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Dbeibah called the move the start of “a new chapter” in bilateral ties, based on “shared interests, substantive cooperation, and resolving outstanding issues.”
Libya has been divided since 2014 between the Government of National Unity in Tripoli, led by Dbeibah, and an eastern administration led by Osama Hammad and backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar. Representatives of Libya's rival factions signed a deal on Sunday to hold national elections within two years.
