Syrian President Bashar al Assad was received this Friday (19th), after years away, at the Arab League summit meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which intends to address the conflicts in Sudan and Yemen and which has the presence of the Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president traveled to the Red Sea city for a meeting of the 22 member countries of the Arab League, a demonstration of host Saudi Arabia’s desire to exert global diplomatic influence.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed Assad on his first visit to the region since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
“We are pleased to welcome President Bashar Al Assad to this summit,” the prince said, before expressing hope that Syria’s reintegration would bring “stability” to the war-torn country.
Before the opening ceremony, Assad had a series of bilateral meetings, including meetings with the president of Tunisia and the vice president of the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia’s summit coincides with an attempt by the country, the world’s biggest oil exporter, to increase its diplomatic influence in the Middle East and beyond.
– The return of Syria –
“This meeting is very important,” declared Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad. “The Syrian delegation is here to make this meeting a success.”
The main streets of Jeddah were flown with the flags of Arab League member states, including Syria, and the Al-Riyadh newspaper said on Friday that this would be the “summit of all summits”.
The meeting takes place after Saudi Arabia’s historic rapprochement agreement with Iran, mediated by China and announced in March.
Since then, Saudi Arabia has re-established bilateral relations with Syria and stepped up efforts to secure a peace deal in Yemen, where it leads a military coalition against the Houthi rebels, backed by Iran.
Not all countries in the region, however, are willing to resume relations with Assad. Qatar said it would not normalize relations with the Syrian government, but stressed that this would not be an obstacle to reintegration into the Arab League.
– Surprise visit from Zelensky –
Zelensky’s surprise visit is the Ukrainian president’s first trip to the Middle East since the Russian invasion, which began in February 2022, giving the head of state the opportunity to address the leaders of a region less united in his support for Kiev than Western allies.
In a speech, he accused some Arab leaders of ignoring the horrors of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here, among you, who turn a blind eye to illegal annexations,” said Zelensky, who urged meeting attendees to “watch honestly” for war.
An Arab League source told AFP that Zelensky’s invitation was made by Saudi Arabia and not by the organization.
Zelensky highlighted in his speech how the war in Ukraine has affected Muslims on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
“Crimea was the first to suffer Russian occupation and many of those suffering repression in occupied Crimea are Muslims,” he said.
Zelensky also thanked Prince Mohamed bin Salman for supporting Ukraine’s “territorial integrity”.
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