(CNN) the League of Arab States The organization has re-entered Syria after 11 years of absence, according to what the organization announced Sunday, following an extraordinary meeting at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo, Egypt.
The re-entry comes into effect immediately, after Syria was suspended during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests.
The League of Arab States is an organization of countries in the Middle East and Africa and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Its purpose is to promote close political, economic, cultural and social relations between members.
The member states agreed during Sunday’s meeting to “resume the participation of delegations of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic in the meetings of the Council of the League of Arab States,” according to a statement by the Arab League.
The statement added that the Arab League also stressed the need to take “practical and effective steps” to resolve the Syrian crisis.
Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters on Sunday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may participate in the next Arab summit in Saudi Arabia if he is invited and if he wants to attend.
“Syria from tonight is a full member of the Arab League, and starting tomorrow they have the right to participate in any meeting. And when the host country, in this case Saudi Arabia, sends an invitation, he (Assad) can attend if Aboul Gheit said.
Officials and analysts said Syria’s readmission to the Arab League, though symbolic, comes with the potential to enable Assad’s international rehabilitation, possibly allowing the removal of crippling sanctions against his regime.
Speaking to CNN earlier this month, H.A. Hellyer, a Middle East scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the University of Cambridge, said Syria’s return to the Arab League “paves the way for member states that may have been reluctant to engage more directly with the Assad regime.” “.
“It is also easier for non-member states, such as Turkey and others, to say that a new temporary settlement is in place,” he added.
Syria has been subject to severe Western sanctions for years, the most prominent of which was the US Caesar Act of 2019, which imposed wide-ranging sanctions restricting individuals, companies, or governments from economic activities that assist in Assad’s war efforts. This law made the entire economy untouchable.
The United Nations says the levels of poverty and food insecurity that Syrians face today are unprecedented. The World Food Program estimates that as of 2022, more than 12 million Syrians – more than half of the country’s population – are food insecure.
