Syria’s Assad to attend Arab summit, bringing regional isolation to an end

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in Saudi Arabia on Friday to attend an Arab summit where he will rub shoulders with leaders who shunned him for years in a major policy shift opposed by the United States and other Western powers.
Ostracised by most Arab states following the crackdown on protests against his rule in 2011 and the ensuing civil war that killed 350,000 people, his government’s readmission to the bloc is a signal that Assad’s isolation is ending.
A beaming Assad was received by Deputy Governor of Mecca region Prince Badr bin Sultan and Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit as he arrived on Thursday in Jeddah, the host city.
Assad, accompanied by several other Syrian officials, was then escorted to the reception hall of the Royal terminal where he had a brief exchange with Prince
Badr and Aboul Gheit. Giant portraits of Saudi Arabia’s founder King Abdulaziz, King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were hanging on the walls.
Assad is expected to address the summit later on Friday, along with other Arab leaders.
Ahead of the summit, the United States reiterated its opposition to normalisation of relations with Damascus.