Doha announced on Tuesday that it had received an invitation from the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council to attend a meeting next Friday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to exchange views on the possibility of Syria's return to the League of Arab States.

During a press briefing at the ministry's headquarters in Doha, Majid al-Ansari , a spokesman for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the main objective of "this consultative meeting" in which the Gulf states, in addition to Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, are participating, is to "discuss the situation in Syria."

He pointed out that "there are many developments regarding the situation in Syria and the Arab views towards Syria's return to the Arab League."

In the past two months, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited the Sultanate of Oman and the UAE, in the first visit to two Arab countries since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011, in light of regional efforts to return Syria to the Arab incubator.

Saudi Arabia and Syria are holding discussions regarding the resumption of consular services after a rupture that has been going on for years as a result of Riyadh closing its embassy in Damascus due to its anti-regime stance, according to a Saudi Foreign Ministry official recently.

Following the outbreak of the conflict, several Arab countries, especially the Gulf ones, severed their diplomatic relations with Syria and closed their embassies in Damascus. The League of Arab States also suspended Syria's membership.

Al-Ansari confirmed the participation of the Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, in the meeting.

The General Secretariat of the Cooperation Council has not yet confirmed the organization of the meeting.

For his part, a spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry told AFP that the issue of Baghdad's participation in the meeting is currently under study.

Al-Ansari explained that an invitation was extended to Iraq, Jordan and Egypt because they are "concerned countries in this regard."

He pointed out that the Qatari position has not changed, explaining that any change in the position on Syria "is mainly linked to the Arab consensus and to a field change that achieves the aspirations of the Syrian people."