Arab League Summit: Saudi prince greets Assad with hugs
After the war in Syria that began in 2011, the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia began, which witnessed the return of Damascus to the arena of international diplomacy.
Syrian President Bashar Assad, who went to Jeddah to attend the Arab League summit for the first time since 2010, was greeted by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the summit entrance. Assad, who was warmly welcomed by the Saudi prince, stood next to Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah Sisi at the summit family photo.
While Syria has recently taken steps to normalize relations with several Arab countries and Turkey, it was claimed that Assad went to the country at the invitation of the King of Saudi Arabia.
The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership on November 12, 2011 due to the war that broke out in the country, and many countries in the union, including Saudi Arabia, supported the armed opposition fighting the Assad regime.
Assad is with Sisi, the leader of Egypt, in the family photo at the summit.
‘APPROACH THAT WILL DISTURB THE UNITED STATES’
With the Syrian government’s victory in the war with the military support of Russia and Iran, many countries in the region have recently changed direction and are taking steps to normalize with Damascus. The foreign ministers of Arab League member states agreed to Syria’s return to the organization on May 7.
Experts describe Assad’s participation in the Jeddah summit as the most important indicator of the end of years of exclusion against Syria. Sources from the Gulf countries, in statements to Reuters, said they believe this process will upset the United States.
The United States has been making statements against Türkiye and other countries’ rapprochement with Syria for a long time. Finally, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said: “We do not support normalization with the Assad regime and our partners taking steps in this direction.”