Syrian regime’s president Bashar al-Assad delivered a speech today, Monday, November 11, during his participation in the urgent Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, where he condemned Israeli violations in Gaza and Lebanon, while ignoring the repeated Israeli strikes on Syria.
Al-Assad’s speech lasted five and a half minutes, during which he focused solely on the violations committed by Israel and its allies in Gaza and Lebanon. He did not criticize Arab leaders for their “failure regarding the Palestinian cause,” as he usually does in his speeches.
During his speech, al-Assad did not mention any details regarding the Israeli strikes targeting Syria or his position on them, nor did he refer to Turkey or describe it in any way, a deviation from his usual rhetoric where he always emphasizes the need for Turkish withdrawal from Syrian territory.
He stated that the priority right now is to stop the Israeli massacres against Palestinians, pointing out that Israel’s crimes have not ceased since the last Riyadh summit a year ago, according to the Syrian Presidency.
Al-Assad described Israel as a “herd of settlers” and asserted that the leaders at the Arab summit must come up with effective means to stop the Israeli violations in Gaza and Lebanon.
He criticized the absence of Palestinian rights, saying, “What value do the rights of the Palestinian people have if they do not possess its basis, which is the right to live?”
Regarding his comments on the actions of Hezbollah and Hamas, al-Assad simply stated, “I will not talk about our duty to support the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples and the legitimacy of resistance in both countries, nor about the Nazi Israeli occupation as that will not add anything to what many in the world already know.”
The regime’s head focused his speech at the Arab summit today on Israeli violations in Gaza and Lebanon, while his forces continue to commit violations against Syrians for 13 years.
According to statistics from the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), the Syrian regime has killed more than 200,000 civilians, including 15,000 who were killed under torture in detention, while more than 136,000 people have been arrested since the start of the Syrian revolution until the end of last month.
Before the Arab summit commenced in Riyadh today, al-Assad met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani at his residence in Riyadh, discussing bilateral relations between the two countries and the summit’s agenda, according to the Syrian official news agency (SANA).
Bashar al-Assad arrived in Saudi Arabia this morning to participate in the urgent Arab-Islamic summit.
The official media did not previously announce al-Assad’s intention to attend the Arab summit or whether he would give a speech during it.
Syrian Foreign Minister Bassem Sabbagh had preceded al-Assad to Riyadh to attend the preparatory meeting of foreign ministers for the joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh.
On November 10, Sabbagh met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, where they discussed the developments in the region and the efforts being made to halt the Israeli war on Palestine and Lebanon, along with the repeated Israeli attacks on Syria, according to SANA.
Sabbagh also met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty, where they exchanged views on the joint Arab-Islamic summit’s agenda, as reported by SANA.
The last Arab summit attended by al-Assad was in Bahrain, where he did not give a speech at the opening session of the 33rd Arab summit held on May 16 in the capital Manama, raising questions about the reason behind this.
Arab foreign ministers agreed to reinstate Syria’s seat in the Arab League in early May 2023, after more than a decade of Arab isolation of the regime due to the outbreak of the revolution and the regime’s repressive handling of it.
Following Syria’s return to the Arab League, Bashar al-Assad visited Saudi Arabia on May 18, 2023, in a visit that was his first of its kind since the start of the revolution in Syria in 2011, where al-Assad participated in the Arab summit hosted by the kingdom during its 32nd session in Jeddah.
On November 10, 2023, he headed to Saudi Arabia to participate in the emergency Arab summit regarding the Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip.