Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been invited by King Salman of Saudi Arabia to participate in the next Arab summit. The invitation comes after Syria's reintegration into the Arab League, from which it was excluded in 2011 following the popular uprising.
The last annual Arab League summit attended by the Syrian head of state was held in 2010 in Sirte, Libya. President Assad was subsequently sidelined by his peers for his crackdown on the uprising that erupted in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011.