Riyadh is seeking to "develop joint Arab action", two days after Damascus' reintegration into the Arab League. Damascus was expelled from the pan-Arab organization in 2011 because of the bloody repression of a popular uprising triggered in the wake of the Arab Spring.
Nearly half of Syrians are now refugees or internally displaced persons, and parts of the territory are still outside government control. This rapprochement comes at a time when Syria is in dire need of investors for the enormous reconstruction of the country.