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Arab leaders welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad back into a summit in Saudi Arabia, which will help focus on conflicts in Sudan and Yemen
Arab leaders welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad back into a summit in Saudi Arabia, which will help focus on conflicts in Sudan and Yemen.
Assad arrived in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah for the Arab League gathering, his first since the bloc suspended Syria in 2011 over the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators that led to civil war. He met Tunisian President Kais Saied and kicked off a series of bilateral talks before the summit.
The summit in Saudi Arabia comes at a time when the world’s biggest oil exporter is expanding its influence across the Middle East and beyond. The meeting follows a frenetic stretch of high-stakes diplomacy triggered by the kingdom’s surprise Chinese-brokered rapprochement deal with Iran announced in March. Since then, Saudi Arabia has restored bilateral ties with Syria and ramped up a push for peace in Yemen, where it leads a military coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
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Riyadh also played a leading role in evacuating civilians from Sudan when fighting erupted there last month, and it is currently hosting representatives of Sudan’s warring parties in a bid to hammer out a ceasefire.
