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SAUDI ARABIA hosted an Arab League summit today in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, where Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was welcomed back after a 12-year suspension of his country’s membership and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise appearance.
Russian air strikes have left a swathe of destruction across both countries, but in Syria they came at Mr Assad’s invitation and helped him retain power through years of grinding civil war.
Several other Arab states have maintained warm ties with Moscow while remaining largely neutral in the Ukraine war.
The summit came amid a recent flurry of diplomacy by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has turned to pursuing regional rapprochement after pulling back from the oil-rich kingdom’s confrontation with its arch-rival Iran.
In recent months, Saudi Arabia has restored diplomatic ties with Iran, following a Chinese-brokered deal, begun to end the kingdom’s lengthy war against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen and led the push for Syria’s return to the Arab League.
The Saudi crown prince welcomed both Mr Assad and Mr Zelensky, expressing support for “whatever helps in reducing the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.”
He added that Riyadh, which brokered a prisoner exchange last year, “is ready to exert efforts for mediation between Russia and Ukraine.”
Addressing the summit in English, Mr Zelensky vowed that Ukraine would “never submit to any foreigners or colonisers. That’s why we fight.”
He also accused some in the hall of “turning a blind eye” to Russian war crimes, without naming them.
Leaders of the 22-member league were also expected to focus on Sudan, where an armed conflict between rival military factions has been raging for more than a month.
Hundreds of people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as the east African country’s top generals, Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, pursue victory at any price.
The Arab League is also expected to reiterate its support for the Palestinians at a time of soaring tensions in the Middle East.
