conflicts
Assad at Arab League: rulers among old friends
The long-isolated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (l) has arrived in Saudi Arabia for the Arab League summit. photo
© Mosa Al Kathami/Saudi Press Agency/dpa
Bashar al-Assad smiles as he walks across the carpet in Jeddah, where the Arab League summit begins today. For Syria’s president, the participation is a big coup.
At the Arab League summit, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be taking part in a major international meeting for the first time after around a decade of isolation.
Assad landed in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah in the evening, the Syrian state agency Sana reported. Assad himself is likely to be the focus of today’s summit. For the ruler, who is accused of war crimes such as the use of chemical weapons, participation is a great symbolic success.
Assad was severely isolated internationally for more than ten years. His government brutally suppressed protests in Syria in 2011 and took extreme action against its own people in the civil war that followed. The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in 2011. For years, Assad rarely appeared in public and officially only traveled to ally Russia and Iran for a long time. From 2018, however, the Emirates, for example, pushed ahead with normalization.
Assad’s speech is expected
By attending the summit, where Assad is also expected to speak, the President is continuing his return to the circle of Arab neighbors. Talks or cooperation with the Assad government, against which the EU and the USA have imposed comprehensive sanctions, are taboo for the West. At the end of November, Assad could also meet western heads of state and government again: he has been invited to the COP28 world climate conference in Dubai, which US President Joe Biden or German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for example, could also attend.
The Arab League was founded in 1945 and, with the addition of Syria, now again has 22 members. 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. During the civil war, 14 million people were displaced and more than 350,000 lost their lives. A good 90 percent of the population lives in poverty, and large parts of the country have been destroyed.
Assad’s participation in the “last nail in the coffin” summit
Officially, it is not known whether Syria’s return to the league is subject to conditions or new plans. However, the most pressing issues include the return of Syrian refugees, possible talks with the opposition, humanitarian aid, reconstruction and curbing drug smuggling. In addition, Assad could be urged to reduce his dependency on his important ally Iran. Normalization with Assad is unlikely to change anything for the population in need.
For the uprisings in the Arab world from 2011, Assad’s participation in the summit was “the last nail in the coffin,” Muriel Asseburg, Syria expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), told the editorial network Germany (RND). “Authoritarian consolidation has prevailed.” The Assad government has not made any commitments with regard to problems such as poverty, corruption and the marginalization of the Sunni population, which triggered the uprisings in 2011.
During the Syrian civil war, most of the Arab neighbors in the region supported the opposition. After twelve years of war, however, the view has prevailed that Assad should remain the dominant force in the country. His troops, along with allies, control about two-thirds of Syria. In addition, Saudi Arabia hopes to reduce Iran’s influence through the renewed dialogue.