Zelensky Joins Arab Summit Before Participating in G7 Meeting

U.S. officials said that Egyptian state-owned arms makers have agreed to a contract to produce artillery shells for the United States and American contractors, who, in turn, will send them to Ukraine.

This Arab League summit will be the first one attended by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in 13 years. He was long shunned regionally and internationally over his violent suppression of Syria’s Arab Spring uprising more than a decade ago, which grew into a long civil war that continues, though fighting has ground to a standstill.

Mr. al-Assad’s forces used chemical weapons against their own people during the war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. Russia provided significant support to the Syrian dictator in that war and used tactics, including strikes against civilian targets, that it has since employed in Ukraine.

Arab League summits are typically staid affairs of mostly regional interest, but Mr. al-Assad’s reintegration has drawn widespread attention, including criticism from some American lawmakers and from Syrians opposed to his rule. It has also sparked controversy in the region, where many are uncomfortable with the idea of re-legitimizing a leader accused of war crimes.

Mr. Zelensky’s arrival in Jeddah seemed likely to divert some attention away from Mr. al-Assad’s presence. Saudi state television showed Prince Mohammed greeting Mr. al-Assad with kisses on the cheek and a long handshake, in the first in-person meeting between the two leaders.

Arab nations such as Egypt and Tunisia have been among the countries hardest hit by the global repercussions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Both those nations were deeply dependent before the war on grain from Russia and Ukraine — Egypt is the world’s No. 1 importer of wheat, and both Egypt and Tunisia heavily subsidize bread for their poorest citizens. The two countries found themselves scrambling after the war began to feed their populations at a price that would not bankrupt them.

In Egypt, the war’s impact crystallized longstanding problems with the country’s economy, leaving Egyptians reeling from soaring inflation and a shortage of imported goods. Income from Ukrainian and Russian tourists also dried up, blowing a hole in a crucial industry. The shock the invasion sent through global markets also prompted investors to pull billions of dollars out of Egyptian bonds, setting off a monetary crisis.

Yet many Egyptians and other Arabs have sided with Russia partly out of antipathy toward the West, and Egypt has tried to strike a balance between maintaining warm ties with Moscow and not offending its U.S. and European allies.