Assad Travels To Saudi For First Arab League Summit For Syria In 10 Yrs

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad travels to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia today ahead of the Arab League leaders' summit getting underway on 19 May. This will mark the first time that the Syrian leader has been in attendance in over 10 years since his country was suspended following the crackdown on protesters that eventually spiraled into the Syrian Civil War. Assad's attendance has been condemned by Western nations, and has become another example of the diminishing influence of the United States in a region where it has historically been the dominant great power influence.

• Qatar and Kuwait have voiced some opposition to Syria's re-entry into the League, but in a signal of the dominance of Saudi Arabia in the region's politics neither have pursued the opposition beyond initial complaints.
• Assad's return to the fold despite long-running support from Iran and Russia, combined with the Chinese-brokered deal normalising relations between Riyadh and Tehran, is demonstrative of how the declining US diplomatic presence in the Middle East under the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations has allowed other regional and global players to have a greater impact on the oil-rich region.