Bashar Al-Assad’s regime participates in its first Arab League meeting in eleven years

Syria ended Monday, May 15 more than a decade of diplomatic isolation within the Arab League. Officials of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad have indeed participated in a preparatory session before the summit organized Friday in Saudi Arabia. This is the first time that Syrian leaders have taken part in an Arab League meeting since November 2011. The pan-Arab organization suspended the regime at the time, due to the violent repression of demonstrations which degenerated into a conflict which caused more 500,000 dead and millions displaced.

An invitation from Mohammed bin Salman

The Arab League reinstated the Syrian regime on May 7, thus guaranteeing Bashar Al-Assad’s return to Arab rule. The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had invited the Syrian president on May 10 to participate in the annual summit to be held on Friday in the coastal city of Jeddah, on the Red Sea. This is his first participation since 2010, when the summit took place in Libya.

Regional capitals have gradually moved closer to the Syrian president, who has held on to power and recovered lost territories with crucial support from Iran and Russia. Large areas of northern Syria are still beyond government control. Diplomatic activity notably resumed after the deadly earthquake which struck Syria and Turkey on 6 February.