Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had arrived in Saudi Arabia to participate in the summit, two weeks after the Arab League agreed to return Syria’s seat to end the suspension of its membership, after nearly 12 years.
The summit will focus on the files of Syria, the crisis in Sudan and the Palestinian cause, in addition to issues of Arab security and development.
Meanwhile, the Arab leaders participating in the work of the Arab Summit in its thirty-second session, which is scheduled to start tomorrow in the city of Jeddah, continues to flock.
The Arab foreign ministers submitted 32 draft resolutions to the leaders, including the most important issues of concern to the Arab street.
The summit comes within the framework of geopolitical changes surrounding the region and the world, in addition to the efforts of the leaders of the countries of the region to solve problems and resolve internal crises, starting with the Palestinian issue, passing through the Syrian file, the Sudanese crisis, and the rest of the files such as Yemen, Libya and Lebanon.
High level presence
Attendance at the highest level witnessed by this summit, high representation of Arab delegations, and the participation of the Syrian President, all of this gives early positive indications and indications, according to observers of the success of the summit.
For the first time in 12 years, Syria will participate in the Arab Summit to be held in Jeddah.
In light of the recent Arab openness to Syria, Damascus will come to Jeddah, opening a new page in the relations between it and its Arab neighbors.
The preparation for the return to the Arab embrace began with the Algiers summit that was held in November 2022, but the matter did not happen due to the divergence of the positions of a number of Arab countries regarding the return.
After that, circumstances matured little by little, with mutual visits between Arab and Syrian officials, which paved the way for Syria to regain its seat.
In parallel, the region witnessed a resolution of regional issues and crises through dialogue with the concerned parties, including Iran and Turkey.
Factors and transformations led to the return of Damascus to the Arab League, which, according to many, will create a new Arab path that may contribute to resolving the Syrian crisis, including refugee crises, drug smuggling, and the threat of terrorism.
The return of Syria is considered the beginning of the path of restoring relations. On the other hand, the Arabs hope that real progress will be made in resolving the conflict in Syria, which may lead to an eventual end to Western sanctions, which constitute a major obstacle to the start of major reconstruction efforts that may advance Syria in the future.
Sudanese file
The Arab summit in Jeddah is discussing important Arab files, on top of which is the Sudanese crisis. In addition to the efforts of Arab leaders, Arab countries are leading bilateral efforts to persuade the two parties to the conflict, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, to accept an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
Arab leaders seek, within a collective effort, to succeed in establishing a peace that ends the spiral of violence. The League also plays a consensual role by accepting the parties to the conflict to accept negotiation, provided that the League plays the role of mediator and observer of the negotiations.
In addition to the collective effort of Arab leaders, some Arab countries are playing a role on a bilateral level, by seeking to influence the Rapid Support Forces and the army in order to persuade both sides to stop the fighting.
The Jeddah talks between the two parties to the conflict, which were mediated by Saudi Arabia, previously resulted in a declaration of principles providing for facilitating the arrival of aid and protecting civilians, but the mechanisms for establishing humanitarian corridors and agreeing to a ceasefire are still under discussion.
In the past, the two sides announced their agreement to several periods of cease-fire, but the fighting did not stop in any of them.
Before the date of the summit, a preparatory meeting of Arab foreign ministers held on Wednesday discussed the Sudanese file, along with other files. During the meeting, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria called for a cease-fire in Sudan.
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