After more than a decade of isolation, Bashar al-Assad, the president of war-torn Syria, has been welcomed back into the Arab League.
Al-Assad on Friday attended the regional bloc's 32nd summit in Saudi Arabia's port city of Jeddah for the first time since his country's suspension following the eruption of war in Syria in 2011.
During his speech, he said the summit was a "historic opportunity" to address crises across the region as hundreds protested in rebel-held northern Syria against his participation in the event.
"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," al-Assad told attendees.
Al-Assad said Syria would always belong to the Arab world but called for non-interference in the internal affairs of Arab states.
"It is important to leave internal affairs to the country's people as they are best able to manage their own affairs," he said.
And in an apparent swipe at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has backed Syrian rebels and sent Turkish forces into swaths of northern Syria, al-Assad noted the "danger of expansionist Ottoman thought", describing it as influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood – a group seen as a foe by Damascus and many other Arab states.
