Syria expels Houthi ‘diplomatic mission’ in Damascus

The official, who requested anonymity, stated that during their first encounter in over a decade last month, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak instructed his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, to expel Houthi figures from the embassy. (AP/File)

• Diplomatic blow to the militia’s international recognition efforts
• The Syrian regime ordered the Houthis to depart the embassy and the country

AL-MUKALLA: The Syrian regime has expelled the Houthi diplomatic mission from the Yemeni Embassy in Damascus, dealing a diplomatic blow to the militia’s international recognition efforts.
A Yemeni government official told Arab News that the Syrian regime accepted a request from the internationally recognized government of Yemen to expel the Houthis from the embassy building and that the Yemeni government is considering re-establishing diplomatic relations with Syria and dispatching its own ambassador.
The official, who requested anonymity, stated that during their first encounter in over a decade last month, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak instructed his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, to expel Houthi figures from the embassy.
This week, the Syrian regime ordered the Houthis to depart the embassy and the country, signaling Damascus’s willingness to re-engage with the Yemeni government following a decade-long boycott.
The Houthis seized control of the Yemeni embassy in 2015, taking advantage of the Arab nation’s isolation of the Syrian regime following the violent suppression of protests.
After their expulsion from Syria, the Houthis maintained a single diplomatic mission in Iran.
Najeeb Ghallab, undersecretary at Yemen’s Information Ministry and a political analyst, told Arab News that the expelled Houthis fled to Lebanon after “plundering” embassy property.
He added that the Syrian regime was compelled to abandon the Houthis after it became clear that neither Syria nor Yemenis benefited from their presence.
“The Houthi mission did not provide anything to the Syrian regime or Yemen, but on the contrary, it sent a message that the Syrian regime does not adhere to international regulations. No one in the world recognizes the Houthis as a state, including Iran, which regards them as employees,” Ghallab said.
Ghallab said that the Houthi mission in Syria did not serve Yemenis but had transformed the embassy in Damascus into a hub for “illegal activities” serving Houthi agendas in Syria and Lebanon.