The 32nd Arab League summit kicks off in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Friday, in an event that will focus on an array of pressing issues related to Syria and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Syria’s return to the Arab League is almost certain to become a priority topic of the summit, which will be attended by Syrian President Bashar Assad for the first time in more than a decade.
The pan-Arab bloc suspended Damascus in November 2011 over a civil war in Syria, but earlier this month, the Arab League welcomed the country back.
Syrian media reported that President Assad is due to meet “a number of leaders in bilateral meetings” at the Jeddah summit.
Participants are also expected to prioritize the discussion of the latest escalation in Gaza, where the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched Operation Shield and Arrow on May 9.
The IDF units attacked positions of the radical group Islamic Jihad in response to the previous massive shelling of the Jewish state. On May 13, Israel and the Palestinian factions based in Gaza agreed on a ceasefire in a decision that was mediated by Cairo.
Shortly after, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that the ongoing "Israeli aggression" against the Palestinians threatens regional security, while his Jordanian counterpart Ayman al-Safadi called for resuming “serious and comprehensive negotiations" on the Palestinian dossier.
Importantly, the 2023 Arab League summit comes amid the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which agreed to restore ties on March 10, 2023, something that experts say added significantly to Syria returning to the pan-Arab body.
Currently, the Arab League includes 22 member states, including Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.