King of Saudi Arabia Invites Syrian President Assad to Join Arab League Summit

According to Syrian media, the May 19 summit is expected to bolster collective Arab efforts in order to meet the expectations of the Arab population.

The invitation was delivered by Saudi Ambassador to Jordan, Nayef bin Bandar al-Sudairi.

More than ten years after Syria’s suspension from the Arab League, a 22-member regional organization, Bashar al-Assad attended the last Arab League summit held in Libya in 2010.

On Sunday, representatives of the Arab governments in Cairo voted to readmit Syria to the Arab League after a 12-year suspension. All 13 of the 22 member states present at the session approved the decision.

In November 2011, the Arab League suspended the membership of Syria, one of the founding members, claiming the Syrian government had been repressing opposition protests. Syria reacted to the decision by calling it “illegal and a violation of the organization’s charter.”

In March, Riyadh and Damascus reached an agreement to restore diplomatic ties and reopen their respective embassies after being separated for over a decade.

In April, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi Foreign Minister, made a visit to Damascus to meet with Assad – the first of its kind since the beginning of the foreign-backed militancy in Syria in 2011.

In recent years, terrorist groups have been largely defeated in Syria, with the Syrian government forces, supported by Russia and Iran, regaining control of almost all regions.

It is anticipated that Assad will visit other Arab countries in the near future, in addition to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, which he has already visited this year.

A rising amount of regional nations, including the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and Oman, have demonstrated a willingness to reestablish diplomatic ties with Syria, despite the fact that Israel and certain Western states have taken drastic measures to isolate the country.