Algeria’s foreign minister decried Syria’s decade long suspension from the Arab League during a visit to Damascus, indicating support for the war-torn country’s return to the organization under President Bashar Assad. “Syria’s absence from the Arab League harms cooperation between Arab countries,” said Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, speaking at a news conference with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad. “Syria is coordinating with Algeria and several Arab countries to revisit the status of Syria’s membership in the league,” Mekdad said. (https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Algeria-s-top-diplomat-backs-Syria-s-return-to-17326912.php) Syria was expelled from the 22-member group and boycotted by its neighbors after the conflict broke out in March 2011, following a heavy-handed crackdown by Assad’s government on mass protests demanding reforms. The country quickly descended into civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced half the country’s population and left large parts of Syria destroyed.