Syrian President Al-Assad receives Saudi invitation to Arab summit

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
10 May 16:24
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The Syrian President considers that the summit "will enhance joint Arab action to achieve the aspirations of the Arab peoples."

Syrian President Al-Assad receives the Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Jordan Nayef bin Bandar Al-Sudairi, on May 10, 2023 (SANA)

The Syrian presidency confirmed on Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad received an invitation to next week's Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, the first such invitation since the war on the country broke out.

On Sunday, the Arab League welcomed back Syria's government into the bloc.

In a statement, the Syrian presidency announced that Al-Assad received an invitation from Saudi King Salman "to participate in the thirty-second Arab League summit, which will be held in Jeddah on May 19."

The Syrian President considered that the summit "will enhance joint Arab action to achieve the aspirations of the Arab peoples," the statement indicated.

Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Jordan, Nayef bin Bandar Al-Sudairi, delivered the invitation. The last Arab League summit that Al-Assad attended was in 2010 in Libya.

The invitation comes a day after Riyadh and Damascus announced that work would resume at their respective diplomatic missions in Syria and Saudi Arabia, after more than a decade of severed ties.

The Kingdom severed ties with the Syrian government in 2012. However, in April, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met with Al-Assad in Damascus on the first such visit since the war broke out.

A flurry of diplomatic activity has been underway in recent weeks after a deadly earthquake struck Syria and Turkey and a decision by Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume ties shifted the political landscape.

On the other hand, the United States and Britain said on Tuesday that they still opposed relations with the Syrian government but would work with Arab states that are re-establishing relations.

"Our position is clear: We are not going to be in the business of normalising relations with Assad and with that regime," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Washington.

A Bloomberg report considered the #ArabLeague states' decision to reinstate #Syria to the bloc comes "in defiance of US warnings" and that this step reflects #America’s waning influence in the region. pic.twitter.com/rt2ErlpKr9
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 8, 2023

Qatar also opposed Syria rejoining the Arab League and echoed on Sunday Washington's position against normalizing ties with Damascus. But the Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, said Doha will always support anything that brings about Arab consensus, stressing that the Gulf country will not be an obstacle to that process.