At the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greeted Syrian President Assad with a fraternal kiss. The ruler, who has been isolated for a long time, also met with Tunisian President Saied.
More than ten years after his expulsion, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warmly welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who had been isolated for years. The two embraced and fraternally kissed at the start of the Arab League summit in Jeddah. For Assad, it is the first major meeting on the international stage in more than ten years.
A short time later, the actual summit began in a festively decorated hall. Algeria’s Prime Minister Aymen Benabderrahmane opened the meeting and handed the presidency to Saudi Arabia. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Jordan’s King Abullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani also sat at the long tables.
Crown Prince Mohammed said Syria’s return to the Arab League will hopefully bring more stability to the civil war-torn country and allow Syria to resume its “normal role” in the Arab world.
Arab League
The Arab League was founded in 1945 and, with the addition of Syria, now has 22 members again. The aim is to achieve even greater cooperation, for example in politics and business, and to settle conflicts. In addition to the situation in Sudan and Yemen, the summit should also deal with the situation in Syria. Officially, it is not known if Syria’s return to the league is conditional. However, the most pressing issues include the return of Syrian refugees, possible talks with the opposition, humanitarian aid, reconstruction and curbing drug smuggling. Syria was excluded in November 2011 as part of the violent crackdown on protests in the country. In early May, members decided to rejoin Syria.
Tunisian President meets Assad
Assad met with Tunisia’s President Kais Saied on the sidelines of the summit. According to a report by the Tunisian state agency TAP, Saied, whose country severed ties with Syria in 2011, spoke of a “historic meeting”. Assad welcomed the return to normal relations, as reported by the Syrian state agency Sana. As a result, Saied said to Assad: “You are our brothers. And whatever hurts you hurts us.”
Assad’s government had cracked down on its own population against protests in the country and in the civil war that followed. For years he rarely appeared in public and for a long time officially only traveled to ally Russia and Iran. Since 2018, however, the United Arab Emirates and, most recently, the powerful Saudi Arabia have been pushing for normalization.
The Saudi media commented positively on Assad’s participation. “The Arab house is getting a new look. Relationships are being strengthened, problems with brothers working together are being eliminated, and nobody is being left out,” said a spokesman for state television Al-Ekhbariya. Saudi Arabia has managed to calm the situation in the region and bring about “actual changes”.