Context

Arab League foreign ministers voted to readmit Syria into the organisation, after a suspension that lasted over a decade due to the region-wide condemnation of President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on the 2011 protests-turned-civil-war.

Brief Background

• The 22-member group had suspended Damascus' participation in November 2011 due to the nation's actions against peaceful protests that started earlier that year.
• These protests turned into a civil conflict and resulted in the death of over 500,000 individuals, the displacement of millions, and significant damage to the country's infrastructure and industry.

About Arab League

• Founded in 1945, the Arab League is a loose alliance of Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa that have pledged to cooperate on economic and military affairs, among other matters.
• Founding members: Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan, and Yemen.
• Headquarters: Cairo
• Composition: The League is made up of 22 member states and four observer nations.
  • Members: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordon, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
  • Observer nations: Brazil, Eritrea, India, and Venezuela
• The USD 60 billion CPEC aims to connect Pakistan’s Gwadar port in Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang province. India has objected to the CPEC as it traverses through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
• The CPEC is officially regarded as the flagship project of China’s multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – the pet project of President Xi Jinping.