Syria’s Assad to attend Arab summit, ending years of regional isolation

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in Saudi Arabia on Friday

to attend an Arab summit

where he will rub shoulders with leaders who shunned him for years, in a major policy shift opposed by the United States and other Western powers.

Ostracised by most Arab states following the crackdown on protests against his rule in 2011 and the ensuing civil war that killed 350,000 people, his government’s re-admission to the bloc is a signal that Mr Assad’s isolation is ending.

A beaming Mr Assad was received by the deputy governor of Mecca region, Prince Badr bin Sultan, and Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit as he arrived on Thursday in Jeddah, the host city.

Mr Assad, accompanied by several other Syrian officials, was then escorted to the reception hall of the Royal Terminal where he had a brief exchange with Prince Badr and Mr Aboul Gheit.

Giant portraits of Saudi Arabia’s founder, the late king Abdulaziz; King Salman; and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were hanging on the walls.

Mr Assad is expected to address the summit later on Friday, along with other Arab leaders.

Ahead of the summit, the US reiterated its opposition to normalisation of relations with Syria.

“We do not believe that Syria should be (afforded) re-entry into the Arab League,” US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington, adding that sanctions should not be lifted.

“As it related to normalisation, we don’t support normalisation with the Assad regime, and we don’t support our partners doing so.”

But Mr Patel added that “we have a number of shared objectives”, such as bringing home former US Marine and journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012.

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced a Bill last week intended to bar US recognition of Mr Assad as Syria’s president and enhance Washington’s ability to impose sanctions.

It marks a remarkable turn of fortunes for the Syrian leader, whom former US president Donald Trump branded an “animal” for using chemical weapons in 2018 – an accusation Mr Assad has consistently denied.

Government forces have used chemical weapons more than two dozen times during Syria’s civil war, United Nations war crimes investigators said. Syria has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons.

Mr Assad’s return to the Arab fold is part of a wider trend in the Middle East where adversaries have been taking steps to mend ties strained by years of conflict and rivalry.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others for years supported anti-Assad rebels. But Syria’s army, backed by Russia and Iran, regained control of most of the country years ago.

While Arab countries appear to have brought Mr Assad in from the cold, they are still demanding that he curb Syria’s flourishing drug trade and that war refugees be allowed to return. REUTERS