Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave a warm welcome to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The two met at the start of the summit on Friday in Jeddah with a hug and gave each other a fraternal kiss.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky also surprisingly attended the summit. Syria was expelled from the Arab League in 2011 in the wake of the violent suppression of protests and was largely isolated internationally. Since 2018, the United Arab Emirates and, most recently, the powerful Saudi Arabia have been pushing ahead with normalization.