Saudi Arabia to invite Assad back to Arab League, open embassy in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Saudi Arabia’s leadership is planning to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to an Arab League summit in Riyadh on May 19, Reuters reports. The two countries are also planning to resume diplomatic services.
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, will reportedly travel to Damascus in the coming weeks to hand Assad a formal invitation to attend the summit. Syria was expelled from the Arab League in 2011 over the government’s brutal crackdown against protestors.
A source speaking to Reuters say Syria’s return is contingent on Syria meeting a list of Saudi demands, which the two sides have been discussing for the past year. These include closer cooperation on border security and curtailing the drug trade from Syria into the Gulf.
Last month, Prince Faisal said a return of Syria to the Arab League was “possible,” but that it was still “too early” to speak about it.
Last month, Reuters also reported that Riyadh and Damascus had reached an agreement to re-open their respective embassies after the holy month of Ramadan. The Saudi foreign ministry only confirmed that talks were being held to resume consular services.
Saudi Arabia has recently realigned its Middle East policy. After normalizing ties with Turkey and Qatar, it seemingly reached a de-escalation agreement with Iran last week.