Bahrain invites Syria to 33rd Arab League Summit

News Desk - The Cradle 

The US has worked to sabotage rapprochement efforts between the League of Arab States and Syria

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad received an official invitation from Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa on 26 March to participate in the upcoming 33rd session of the Council of the League of Arab States.

Assad received the letter via Bahrain's Ambassador to Damascus, Waheed Mubarak Sayyar.

The Syrian head of state was present last year at the Arab League summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for the first time in 11 years. In November 2011, the Arab League states suspended Syria's membership as part of the broader US-led covert war to topple the government in Damascus.

This invitation by Bahrain is a continuation of the Arab League's rapprochement efforts with Syria.

Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ataf praised Syria's readmission into the Arab League last year and the initiatives to deepen relations.

"We call for resolving Arab differences within the Arab house," Ataf stated during a conference of Arab foreign ministers held in preparation for the upcoming Arab League summit in Jeddah.

"The world is going through major challenges that require us to unite to confront them ... I take the opportunity to welcome the participation of the Syrian Arab Republic in the work of the preparatory meeting for the Arab summit," said Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan.

The Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said, "Syria's restoration of its seat would be a prelude to restoring its role."

"We have to work as a single bloc that coordinates its positions and comes out with a unified position," he added.

However, despite these efforts to restore relations with Syria, the US has been adamant about destroying ties between the Arab nations.

"All the Emirati and Saudi promises to help Syria and activate investment in it on several levels remained words on tongues and ink on paper, and none of them were translated into reality," Arab diplomatic sources told Al-Akhbar in August.

The Lebanese paper also reported that the US sanctions and warnings to UAE and Saudi officials have actively discouraged new investment in Syria. Al-Akhbar added, "There are Emirati investment projects that already exist in Syria, but work in them has been frozen under the pretext of the unstable security conditions."

The upcoming Arab summit is scheduled to be held on 16 May in the Bahraini capital of Manama.