Pariah no more? Arab League reinstates Bashar Assad’s Syria

The Arab League reinstated Syria Sunday, ending a 12-year suspension and moving toward reintegrating Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Qatar, which didn’t send its foreign minister to Sunday’s meeting, opposes reinstalling Syria. Thirteen of the league’s 22 members dispatched foreign ministers to Cairo.

Damascus won, though symbolically. The readmission to the Arab League is unlikely to unleash rehabilitation funds for Syria quickly due to Western sanctions against Assad’s administration.

During the 2011 revolt against Assad, which was violently suppressed and evolved into a civil war, Syria’s Arab League membership was suspended. Since March 2011, the fighting has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of the 23 million pre-war population.

In a televised address, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit stated that returning Syria to the organization, which will allow Assad to attend the May 19 summit, is part of a methodical process to resolve the war.“This doesn’t mean the Syria crisis is over,” he remarked. But it permits Arab states to discuss all the issues with the Syrian administration for the first time in years.

Aboul Gheit added that restoring Syria’s membership does not mean all Arab nations have repaired relations with Damascus.

“Sovereign decisions for each state,” he remarked.

Sunday, Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous accused foes of 12 years of “misinformation and distortion campaigns.” Sunday’s consultations showed Syria’s “prestigious position” locally and internationally.

Normalization was a betrayal to Assad opponents.

“Arab states have put their own cynical realpolitik and diplomatic agendas above basic humanity,” said Laila Kiki, executive director of The Syria Campaign, an international advocacy group. “Cruelly betrayed tens of thousands of victims of the regime’s war crimes and granted Assad a green light to continue committing horrific crimes with impunity,” she said.

Sunday’s decision came days after regional senior officials gathered in Jordan to establish a road map to return Syria to the Arab fold as the crisis deescalates. Saudi Arabia hosts the next Arab League summit on May 19.

The Arab League prefers consensus but sometimes uses simple majorities. Sunday’s closed-door session didn’t reveal which countries objected.

According to U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254, Arab states pledged to seek a diplomatic settlement on Sunday. The league requested updates from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq.

The league commended the Syrian government’s desire to work with Arab countries to handle “humanitarian, security, and political” challenges caused by the crisis, including refugees, “the threat of terrorism and drug smuggling.”

Many expected Syria to rejoin the group.

After the Feb. 6 earthquake, Arab-Damascus relations accelerated. Saudi Arabia, which supported Assad removal, is promoting normalization.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Samer Shoukry stated before Sunday’s conference that only an Arab-led “political solution without foreign dictates” can end the war. “The different stages of the Syrian crisis proved that it has no military solution, and there is no victor nor defeated in this conflict,” he stated.

As Russia and Iran helped Assad retake most of Syria, neighboring countries with sizable refugee populations began reestablishing diplomatic relations with Damascus. UAE and Bahrain resumed relations.

The Feb. 6 Turkey-Syria earthquake accelerated Arab normalization. China assisted Saudi Arabia and Iran, which supported opposite sides in the Syrian conflict, reconcile.

Saudi, Iraqi, Egyptian, and Syrian envoys met in Jordan last week. The “Jordanian initiative” would slowly reintegrate Damascus into Arab society. The top diplomat in Amman called the conference the “beginning of an Arab-led political path” to resolve the issue.

Arab powers are also trying to consolidate a fragile cease-fire in Sudan, where hundreds have died in recent weeks.

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