DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received an invitation to next week’s Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, the presidency said Wednesday, the first such invitation since the country’s war began.

The pan-Arab body had suspended Damascus in November 2011 over its crackdown on protests, which began earlier that year and spiralled into a war that has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country’s infrastructure and industry.

On Sunday, the Arab League welcomed back Syria’s government, securing Assad’s return to the Arab fold after years of isolation.