Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s presence at the Arab Summit in Saudi Arabia was met with a warm reception from Arab leaders as they convened to address conflicts in the Middle East and beyond. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed his pleasure at Assad’s attendance, expressing hope that his return would contribute to stability in Syria.
Arab leaders welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad back into the fold Friday at a summit in Saudi Arabia that is also expected to confront conflicts across the Middle East and beyond.
“We are pleased today by the attendance of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in this summit,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, said in his remarks, adding he hoped the return would lead to “stability” in Syria.
As leaders walked into the main hall, Assad exchanged greetings with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and before the opening ceremony he met Tunisia’s president and the vice president of the United Arab Emirates.
“I hope that it marks the beginning of a new phase of Arab action for solidarity among us, for peace in our region, development and prosperity instead of war and destruction,” Assad told the gathering in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah.
The embrace of Assad was a marked departure for Saudi Arabia, which backed the Syrian opposition and supported rebel groups during earlier stages of Syria’s war and accused Assad, a staunch Iran ally, of operating a “killing machine”.
Since then, Saudi Arabia has restored bilateral ties with Syria and ramped up a push for peace in Yemen, where it leads a military coalition against the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.
Riyadh also played a leading role in evacuating civilians from Sudan when fighting erupted there last month, and it is currently hosting representatives of Sudan’s warring parties in a bid to hammer out a ceasefire.
In addition to challenges facing the Middle East, the Arab League summit should also take on issues like the war in Ukraine and “the global economic crisis”, Khaled Manzlawiy, the bloc’s assistant secretary general for political affairs, wrote on Wednesday in the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
Zelensky’s surprise visit is his first to the Middle East since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022, giving the Ukrainian leader an opportunity to address leaders of a region who have been far less united in their support of Kyiv than staunch Western allies.
Zelensky later accused some Arab leaders of ignoring the horrors of Russia’s invasion.
“Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here, among you, who turn a blind eye to those cages and illegal annexations,” Zelensky told summit attendees, urging them to “take an honest look” at the war.
Marie de La Roche Saint-André, with AFP
