SYRIA and Saudi Arabia are moving towards reopening their respective embassies and resuming flights between the two countries for the first time in more than a decade, they said today in a joint statement.

Damascus was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 and Riyadh cut off diplomatic relations a year later after civil war broke out in Syria.

Efforts to improve relations have picked up pace since a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on February 6 and China brokered the re-establishment of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, regional rivals that had backed opposing sides in the Syrian conflict.