Assad, Zelenskyy appear at Arab summit
Saudi Arabia hosted an Arab League summit on Friday in which Syrian President Bashar Assad was welcomed back after a 12-year suspension and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise visit to rally support against Russia.
Russian airstrikes have left a swath of destruction across both countries, but in Syria they came at Assad’s invitation and helped him cling to power through years of grinding civil war.
Other Arab states have deepened ties with Moscow while remaining largely neutral on the Ukraine war.
The odd pairing of the two leaders in the same forum is the result of a recent flurry of diplomacy by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In recent months, Saudi Arabia has restored diplomatic ties with Iran, is ending the kingdom’s yearslong war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen and led the push for Syria’s return to the 22-member Arab League.
The Saudi crown prince welcomed both Assad and Zelenskyy to the Red Sea city of Jeddah, expressing support for “whatever helps in reducing the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.” He added that the kingdom, which brokered a prisoner exchange last year, “is ready to exert efforts for mediation.”
Addressing the summit in English, Zelenskyy appeared to invoke the Arab world’s own troubled history of invasion and occupation, saying Ukraine “will never submit to any foreigners or colonizers.”
He took a swipe at Iran for supplying attack drones to Russia and spoke about the suffering of Muslim ethnic Tatars living under Russian occupation in Crimea. He also accused some in the hall of “turning a blind eye” to Russia’s violations.
The visit comes amid a whirlwind of international travel by the Ukrainian leader, but until now he has mostly visited allied countries.
Assad, a close ally of both Russia and Iran, said he hoped the summit would mark a “new stage of Arab solidarity” that would bring peace “instead of war and destruction.” He added that Arab countries should reject ”external interference” in their affairs.