Syrian opposition says surprised by countries reconciling with Assad

Syria’s chief opposition negotiator said on Sunday he was surprised by countries rebuilding ties with the Syrian government and urged them to revisit their decision.

"We have no power to stop this reconciliation, we hope it is not for free," Nasr Hariri told reporters in Riyadh. "Bashar al-Assad will remain a war criminal even if thousands of leaders had a handshake with him."

The United Arab Emirates re-opened its embassy in Damascus last month and Bahrain said its embassy there and the Syrian diplomatic mission in Manama had been operating “without interruption”.

The brutal all-out war in Syria is now coming to an end. Neighbouring countries have slowly started rebuilding ties with Syria, putting an end to its isolation in the region. 

Syria fell into a civil war in 2011 following the Arab Spring protest led by the civilians against the Bashar al-Assad government.

The protests turned violent and an armed revolt broke out after some of the protesters took up guns. Several groups were formed inside the country after the civilians faced brutal suppression from the government. A series of arrests and shootings followed the Arab Spring.

The government's brutal crackdown of peaceful protests resulted in an armed revolt against it.

Over the years the civil war in Syria resulted in the killing of over millions of civilians.

(With inputs from Reuters)