Britain reestablishes full Syria ties as FM visits Damascus

Britain reestablished full diplomatic relations with Syria on Saturday, more than a decade after cutting ties, as Foreign Secretary David Lammy met the country’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus.

In 2011, Britain was among the first countries to acknowledge rebel groups as the official Syrian government after then-president Bashar al-Assad’s crushing of pro-democracy protests plunged the country into civil war.

London also joined sanctions against Syria and later closed its embassy in…