DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syria’s readmission into the Arab League after 12 years of suspension has raised concerns inside the occupied territories, an Israeli newspaper has reported.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth daily, Zionist war minister Yoav Gallant has recently made an assessment with the army’s commanders on Syria’s return to the pan-Arab body.
“Israel assesses that this is a bad development on the short and medium term as [Syria’s] return will end the isolation of (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad in the Arab world and makes any Israeli strikes on Syria less legitimate,” it said.
The newspaper, however, said that some in the occupying regime see it premature to assess the implications of Syria’s return to the Cairo-based organization.
Others see that reinstating Syria’s Arab League membership would harm the regime’s military action in Syria, the Israeli newspaper said.
The occupying regime has repeatedly carried out strikes on Syria.
On Friday, President Assad attended the annual Arab summit in Saudi Arabia for the first time since 2011.
A senior official of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement said the Arab League summit in the Saudi city of Jeddah would have been pointless without the participation of the Syrian president.
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem made the remarks during a ceremony in the southern Lebanese region of Beqaa.
The Arab League summit would have become absurd and unproductive without Assad attending the 32nd regular session of the 22-member bloc – the first such participation since the foreign-backed militancy began in Syria more than a decade ago, he said, emphasizing that such a fact reflects the “role and position” of Damascus in the Arab world.
“Assad’s participation pulled the plug on all anti-Syria plots,” Sheikh Qassem said. “All those conspiracies developed over the past 12 years with the intent to ruin Syria, undercut its political position, and surrender it to the Tel Aviv regime have now completely failed. We have entered a new stage.”
He also said his group has long called on Lebanese authorities to strengthen ties with Syria and the Axis of Resistance and confront the apartheid Zionist regime, which is the real enemy of Muslims and has been in collaboration with Daesh and other terrorists.
“The resistance front proved once again that it can alter existing equations and set out its own conditions in the region,” Sheikh Qassem added.
During his address at the Arab League summit in the Saudi city of Jeddah, Assad hoped for increased cooperation between regional states, saying, “I hope that it marks the beginning of a new phase of Arab action for solidarity among us, for peace in our region, development and prosperity instead of war and destruction.”
He noted that the gaps between Syria and other Arab states that have emerged over the last decade must be addressed, and the most important thing is to let the people manage their internal affairs and avoid external interference.
Arab government representatives in Cairo voted on May 7 to return Syria to the Arab League after a 12-year suspension.
All 13 of the 22 member states that attended the session endorsed the decision.
The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in November 2011, citing an alleged crackdown by Damascus on opposition protests. Syria has denounced the move as “illegal and a violation of the organization’s charter.”
Syria was one of the six founding members of the Arab League in 1945. In recent months, an increasing number of countries and political parties have called for the reversal of its suspension from the Arab League.