Arab League Summit. The large return of Assad. An unexpected visit by Zelenski
The “star” of the Friday arabian League summit was to be president Assad, who was invited to the summit for the first time since the outbreak of the Syrian civilian War. However, unexpectedly the “show” was stolen by president Zelenski, who appeared without announcement at the top of the LPA.
It was a very clever decision from the Saudis – hosts of this year's LPA summit. The Americans criticised the normalization of relations with Assad and invited him back to the "Arab club".
Zelenski's presence changes the situation – at least PR. Now criticism from the US will should be more nuanced and balanced.
The Friday summit of the LPA reflects very well the nature of the current abroad policy of Saudi Arabia, which focuses primarily on ‘enhancing its strategical independence’ of Riyadh. The Kingdom is not identified as an ally of the U.S./Russia, but conducts its own abroad policy with its own interests. He wants to play on the same rules as “big players”. The fact that both Moscow's Ally (Assad) and Washington's Ally (Zelenski) appear on Friday's LPA summit shows how much Saudi abroad policy is presently being nuanced.
It is worth noting that the accession of Syria in the rights of a associate of the arabian League and the invitation of Assad to the LPA summit does not mean that all LPA associate States will normalise relations with Syria. The best example is Qatar, who – not wanting to conflict with Saudi Arabia – gave way to the restoration of Syria to the LPA, but besides warned that it would not establish authoritative relations with Damascus.
These disagreements were besides seen at the top of the LPA. As Assad was about to give his speech, Qatar's emir and his colleagues stood up and left the room.
Anyway, in the coming months, we're going to be observing increased contacts between Damascus and the Persian Gulf monarchs. Concerns about American sanctions may, however, origin Syria to neglect at returning to LPA as much as it might seem at first glance.
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