DOHA (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia will host a meeting of regional foreign ministers on Friday to discuss Syria’s return to the Arab League, a Qatari official said on Tuesday, adding that an “Arab consensus” plus a “change on the ground” would shift Qatar’s position.
Foreign ministers from Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will gather in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said. The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.
“The main aim is to discuss the situation in Syria. There are many developments regarding the situation in Syria and points of view of Arab states about the return of Syria to the Arab League,” Al-Ansari said in a briefing to local media. Reuters has reviewed a video recording of the briefing.
Saudi Arabia plans to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the Arab League summit Riyadh is scheduled to host on May 19, sources have told Reuters.
Qatar, which has previously said it had no plans to normalise ties with Damascus and had spoken out against efforts by some countries to do so, has not changed its position, Al-Ansari said.
“Any change in the current (Qatari) position on Syria is mainly linked to an Arab consensus, and a change on the ground that achieves the aspirations of the Syrian people,” he said.
Assad’s attendance would mark the most significant development in his rehabilitation within the Arab world since 2011, when Syria was suspended from the Arab League. Assad had been boycotted by many Western and Arab states over his brutal crackdown on protests – violence that led to a protracted civil war.
Syria’s return to the 22-member body would be largely symbolic but it reflects a change in the regional approach towards the Syrian conflict. Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the war, which drew in numerous foreign powers, and splintered the country.
(Reporting by Andrew Mills and Aziz El Yaakoubi, writing by Andrew Mills; Editing by Richard Chang)
