Reuters confirmed that Saudi Arabia is planning to invite Syrian regime chief Bashar Assad to the Arab Summit to be held in Riyadh on May 19.
Three “informed” sources confirmed that “Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will travel to Damascus in the coming weeks to give Assad an official invitation to attend the summit scheduled for 19 May,” the agency said.
Talks have been ongoing for more than a year over Saudi Arabia’s list of demands it has submitted to the Syrian regime to restore relations, including border security and drug trafficking, the agency quoted.
According to one of the sources, preliminary talks on Prince Faisal bin Ferhan’s visit to Damascus or the Syrian regime Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad’s visit to Riyadh were delayed due to earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria last February.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan had previously said that “the status quo in Syria is unsustainable and any new approach will inevitably require dialogue with the government of Damascus”.
“We must find a way to overcome the challenges posed by the status quo regarding refugees and the humanitarian situation in Syria, and therefore we must find a new approach, and this inevitably requires dialogue with the government of Damascus, the United States and Arab countries,” Al-Arabiya TV said. We work on appropriate formulations in consultation with our partners in the international community.
