Saudi Arabia invited Assad to attend the summit after Arab states agreed to reinstate Syria's full membership into the league, following 12 years of suspension over his crackdown on protests against him.
President Bashar al-Assad is set to attend the summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, where he will likely rub shoulders with Arab presidents and kings who for years sought to weaken him.
His foreign minister Faisal Mekdad is already in Jeddah to attend the preparatory meetings and has held talks with his Jordanian, Emirati and Lebanese counterparts among others.
