Controversy Surrounds Syria's Re-Admission to Arab League

After being suspended from the Arab League since 2011, Syria has been readmitted and invited to an upcoming summit in Saudi Arabia. Bashar al-Assad's regime has not made any concessions towards political reform or accountability for war crimes, nor has it made progress on bringing home Syria's 6 million refugees. Despite this, some Arab leaders seek normalisation with Syria to rid themselves of the burden of refugees and to peel Assad away from Iran. Western governments are loth to foot the bill for reconstruction, and while they oppose normalisation, some Arab diplomats say the Americans gave them a "yellow light" to reach out to the Assad regime.