According to three people familiar with the situation, Saudi Arabia intends to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to an Arab League meeting in Riyadh in May. This would officially end Syria’s isolation in the region.
According to two sources, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will go to Damascus in the coming weeks to personally invite Assad to the May 19 meeting.
The Arab League’s secretary general’s spokeswoman, Gamal Roshdy, said that his organization is ignorant of all bilateral transactions between Arab governments.
Moreover, he said that “we are not required to be told in advance of the alleged visit.”
Assad’s appearance at an Arab League summit would be the most major step toward his rehabilitation in the Arab world since Syria was barred from the organization in 2011. Assad was boycotted by a number of Western and Arab countries for his brutal response to protesters, which sparked a long civil conflict.
Syria’s re-admission to the 22-nation group would be mostly symbolic, but it would signal a shift in regional attitudes toward the Syrian situation. The conflict has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, drawn the involvement of multiple multinational battalions, and torn the country apart.
It was reported late last month that sources in Riyadh and Damascus had agreed to resume diplomatic relations following the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Saudi foreign ministry said that it was in negotiations with the Syrian foreign ministry to restart consular services, but did not confirm a deal had been struck.
Measures to include strong collaboration on border security
According to one of the three individuals, the Syrian government has been discussing a list of Saudi conditions that it must achieve in order to repair ties for over a year. These measures include strong collaboration on border security and drug trafficking.
According to one of the sources, early plans for a visit by Prince Faisal to Damascus or Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad to Riyadh were halted due to the earthquakes that shook Turkey and Syria in February.
Egypt, a key Arab League member, has recently resumed talks with Assad. On Saturday, during the first official visit to Cairo by a Syrian foreign minister in more than a decade, all parties pledged to expand collaboration.
According to an Egyptian security source, the objective of the trip was to help Syria regain membership in the Arab League with the help of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The United States and Qatar are among the countries that have spoken out against re-establishing relations with Assad, citing the brutality of his administration during the conflict as a reason for their stance, as well as the need for movement toward a political settlement in Syria.
Interactions between Saudi and Syrian officials escalated after Saudi Arabia and Iran, Assad’s main sponsor, reached a historic deal to restore relations in March.
With tensions between Iran and Israel rising, the thawing of relations between Riyadh and Tehran is part of a larger regional realignment.
According to Western intelligence sources, the attacks targeted a series of air bases in central Syria where Iranian soldiers are stationed; however, the Syrian defense ministry stated that Israeli aircraft launched airstrikes on outposts in the Homs area early Sunday morning.
