The foreign ministers of the Arab League today approved a decision to readmit Syria after more than ten years of suspension of its participation in the pan-Arab organization, said a representative of the League.

The decision was taken at a closed-door meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo, said Gamal Rosdi, a spokesman for the Arab League’s general secretariat.

Syria’s membership of the Arab League was suspended in 2011 after a bloody crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad led to a devastating civil war, and many Arab countries withdrew their ambassadors from Damascus.

Recently, several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have re-engaged with Syria with high-level visits and meetings, although some, such as Qatar, remain opposed to a full normalization of relations without a political solution to the Syrian conflict.

Arab countries are trying to reach a consensus on whether to invite Assad to the Arab League summit on May 19 in Riyadh to discuss the pace of normalization of relations and under what conditions Syria could be allowed to return.