This is his first visit to the Middle East since the start of the Russian invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday for an Arab summit, stealing the show from Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, a Moscow ally, who is returning to the Arab diplomatic arena.
“I will speak at the Arab League summit. I will meet with Crown Prince (of Saudi Arabia) Mohammed bin Salman and hold other bilateral talks,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram and Twitter accounts. He will also travel to the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan on Sunday, it was revealed on Friday.
The Ukrainian president was invited by Saudi Arabia, not the Arab League, a source in the pan-Arab organization told AFP. Saudi Arabian officials did not immediately react.
Special position of Syria
The Ukrainian president’s stopover in Jeddah, a Red Sea coastal city, should give him an opportunity to appeal to the leaders of a region far less united in its support for Ukraine than its European and American allies. The host country, Saudi Arabia, has taken a relatively neutral stance on the conflict.
On the other hand, Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, an ally of Moscow, is one of the five countries that voted against UN Security Council resolutions calling on Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine. The leader, who benefited from Russia’s intervention in his country in 2015, arrived in Jeddah Thursday night to attend its first Arab League meeting in more than a decade.
The pan-Arab organization expelled the Syrian regime in late 2011 for putting down a popular uprising that turned into a devastating war, then re-established it on May 7. The United Arab Emirates, which re-established ties with Syria in 2018, has been particularly active in reintegrating Damascus into the group.
Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed will be represented by his brother Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, according to WAM. The Syrian regime has also been helped by a surge of solidarity following the February 6 earthquake that devastated much of Syria and Turkey.
Regional conflicts
The Syrian President met this Friday in Jeddah with his Tunisian counterpart Qais Syed as part of a series of bilateral meetings planned on the sidelines of the summit, the official Syrian agency SANA indicates. The summit is taking place in the context of a regional détente marked by a rapprochement in recent months between the Saudi kingdom and its main regional rival, Iran. Riyadh has also recently restored consular services in Damascus.
Saudi Arabia, which hosts the meeting, is also making diplomatic efforts to try to find a solution to regional conflicts such as Yemen’s. The wealthy Gulf monarchy also played a leading role in the evacuation of thousands of civilians from Sudan, the scene of bloody fighting for a month, and welcomes representatives of the warring parties for negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire.
In addition to the conflicts in the Middle East, the 32nd Arab League summit should address more international topics such as the war in Ukraine and the “global economic crisis,” Khaled Manzlavy, a senior Arab League spokesman, told the press.
We need “the unity of the Arab countries” at a time when “the world is going through a dangerous historical stage.”
“Internal Differences” and “Indecision”
Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy and the world’s largest exporter of crude oil, has recently strengthened its relationship with China and is coordinating its oil policy with Russia, while maintaining close ties with the United States, its long-safe partner.
The Arab League recently stressed the need to play a “leading role” to reach a settlement in Syria. Although the fighting has almost ceased, the war has claimed the lives of about half a million people, as well as millions of refugees and displaced people.
Syria hopes to normalize its relations with the Arab countries, in particular with the wealthy Persian Gulf monarchies, to finance its costly reconstruction. Countries such as Qatar, which have strongly opposed President Assad since the start of the war in Syria, are very reluctant to make contact with Damascus. Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad will be in attendance on Friday.
Arab League summits have “often been characterized by internal divisions and indecision,” concludes Torbjorn Soltvedt of risk analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft.
Source: Le Parisien
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