Dubai Invitation to Assad Follows Arab League Invite in Apparent Internecine Rehab

The isolation of Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad by his regional neighbors after leading his nation into a brutal decade-long civil war appears to be coming to an end while rehabilitation efforts seem to be moving forward. Having already been asked to attend the meeting of the Arab League in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this weekend, Assad received a green light to attend the United Nations-sponsored COP28 climate conference in Dubai at the end of the year. The hostilities, which began in March 2011, have resulted in an estimated 600,000 deaths and the displacement of more than a million Syrians from their homes.  Assad was excluded from the regional institutions normally available to the leaders of all Mideast nations, but the stigma appears to be lifting despite the lack of a conclusion to the war. The United Arab Emirates, for example, had cut ties with Syria but is now extending the invitation to Assad.