In his official remarks at the summit in May 2023, Assad celebrated what he called a “historic opportunity … for peace in our region, development and prosperity instead of war and destruction.”.
Almost exactly a year later, on May 16 this year, Assad was back at the table alongside Arab League members at a summit in Manama, Bahrain.
But this time, he was only permitted to attend on the condition that he stayed silent throughout.
The Arab state effort to bring Assad in from the cold and make his regime a responsible actor had completely backfired.
Not only had it failed to convince Assad to make any concessions.
Every single aspect of Syria’s crisis has worsened since Assad stepped onto Saudi soil last May.
The regional effort to get things moving forward failed spectacularly because it was driven by all the wrong assumptions. »
