Britain restored its diplomatic relations with Syria on Saturday, as Foreign Minister David Lammy met the country's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus.
Britain was one of the first countries to support the rebel side as Syria's official government in 2011, after dictator Bashar al-Assad crushed pro-democratic protests and plunged the country into the devastating civil war.
al-Assad was finally overthrown in December last year, after more than 13 years of fighting, in an Islamist rebel offensive led by Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Britain announced in the spring that it will lift several of its sanctions against the country. The EU and the US have also done so.
