The Netherlands excludes reopening its diplomatic mission in Damascus.

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that there are no plans to resume diplomatic representation in the Syrian capital, Damascus, at the moment, despite renewed contacts between the two countries after the fall of the former President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The official spokesperson for the Dutch Foreign Ministry, Tessa van Styvend, confirmed in a statement to "Syria TV" that "the Netherlands is closely monitoring the situation in Syria," but clarified that "the issue of opening a diplomatic mission in Damascus is not currently on the table, and there are no steps in that direction so far."

Regarding the possibility of normalizing relations with the new Syrian government, van Styvend pointed out that "diplomatic contacts between the Netherlands and Syria have been renewed after the fall of the Assad regime," considering that the decision to resume diplomatic representation "is subject to continuous evaluation based on field and political developments, without any concrete steps so far."

The spokesperson also denied any upcoming visit by the Dutch Foreign Minister to Syria, stating that "there are currently no planned visits in this regard."

This stance comes after an official visit by the Syrian Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaaban, to The Hague in early March, where he met his Dutch counterpart, Kaspar Veldkamp, in the first meeting of its kind in over a decade. Earlier Dutch media reports had indicated Veldkamp's intention to visit Damascus.

On the other hand, during a parliamentary session in April, the Dutch Minister expressed cautious optimism about the new Syrian constitutional declaration, stating that it "contains positive signals regarding human rights and freedom of expression," but expressed reservations about the "broadening of the president's powers," emphasizing that "the Netherlands will judge the new government by actions, not words, with the need to take concrete steps towards forming an inclusive and broadly representative government."