The United States today denounced the Arab League’s decision to re-admit Syria to its membership after more than 11 years of exclusion due to the suppression of a popular uprising that turned into a civil war.

“We do not consider Syria worthy of rejoining the Arab League at this time,” US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

“We continue to believe that we will not normalize our relations with the Assad regime, and we do not support our allies and partners who do,” he added.

Washington has long opposed any normalization of relations with President Bashar al-Assad.

Arab foreign ministers on Sunday readmitted Syria to the Arab League, a decision that comes as the Syrian president is in dire need of investment to begin his massive reconstruction operation.

Damascus has recently emerged from its isolation, benefiting mainly from a global wave of solidarity in February following a powerful earthquake that devastated large swathes of Syria and Turkey.

In a first reaction yesterday, Sunday, the State Department criticized the readmission of Syria to the Arab League, stressing that Damascus does not deserve to return to the organization, while expressing doubts about the will of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to resolve the crisis that has arisen from the civil war in Syria.