Syria's Assad to steal spotlight at Arab summit after years in the cold

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a pariah for more than a decade, is expected to steal the spotlight at Friday's Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia, where he will rub shoulders with regional leaders who once backed his war foes. Ostracised by most Arab states following his crackdown on protests against his rule in 2011 and the ensuing civil war, his government's return to the bloc is a signal that his war-battered country's isolation is ending. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others for years supported anti-Assad rebels.