Assad gets warm welcome as Syria welcomed back into Arab League

Syrian president attends first regional bloc summit since his country’s suspension over crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011.

After more than a decade of isolation, Bashar al-Assad, the president of war-torn Syria, has been welcomed back into the Arab League.

Al-Assad on Friday attended the regional bloc’s 32nd summit that kicked off in Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah for the first time since his country’s suspension following the eruption of war in Syria in 2011.

Analysts said Syria’s readmission to the 22-member Arab League is a strong signal that al-Assad’s isolation is ending, reflecting an important shift in how regional actors view the reality of his government’s survival, in ways that are at odds with the West.

“I would like to loudly welcome Syria back to its seat among its brothers,” Algerian Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane said in the opening speech of the summit.

As leaders walked into the main hall, al-Assad exchanged greetings with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, among others.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who is the de facto ruler of the kingdom, hugged al-Assad before their official picture was taken ahead of the start of the meeting.

Syria’s Arab League membership was revoked after al-Assad ordered a crackdown on protesters in March 2011 that spiralled the country into a war, which has since killed nearly half a million people and displaced another 23 million.

Some Arab states have pushed to end al-Assad’s isolation and welcomed the decision, while others have opposed full normalisation without a political solution to the Syrian conflict and want there to be conditions for Syria’s return.

Oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia, once heavily influenced by the United States, has taken the diplomatic lead in the Arab world in the past year, re-establishing ties with Iran, welcoming Syria back to the fold, and meditating in the Sudan conflict.

Global challenges

The summit was also attended in person by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who wants to build support for Kyiv’s battle against Russia.

Zelenskyy’s surprise visit is his first to the Middle East since Russia’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.

An Arab League official told the AFP news agency that Zelenskyy’s invitation came from Saudi Arabia, not the bloc. There was no immediate comment by Saudi Arabia.

A representative of the Russian embassy will also attend the summit, according to a Saudi official.

Zelenskyy accused some Arab leaders of ignoring the horrors of Russia’s war on his country.

“Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here, among you, who turn a blind eye to those cages and illegal annexations,” he told summit attendees, urging them to “take an honest look” at the war.

Gulf states have tried to remain neutral in the Ukraine conflict despite Western pressure on Gulf oil producers to help isolate Russia, a fellow OPEC+ member.

While pledging hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to Ukraine and backing UN Security Council resolutions denouncing Russia’s invasion, it has also coordinated closely with Russia on energy policy, earning a rebuke from Washington last year.

Earlier this year, a Saudi official told journalists that Riyadh remained open to contributing to mediation to end the conflict, especially “on important minor issues that may help cumulatively in the end to have a political solution of the whole issue”.