Briefly

SAUDI ARABIA

Assad might attend Arab leaders' summit

Saudi Arabia is planning to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to an Arab League summit that Riyadh is hosting in May, three sources familiar with the plans said, a move that would formally end Syria's regional isolation. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will travel to Damascus in coming weeks to hand Assad a formal invitation to attend the summit scheduled for May 19, two of the sources said. Assad's attendance at the summit would mark the most significant development in his rehabilitation within the Arab world since 2011, when Syria was suspended from the organization. Syria's return to the 22-member body would be mostly symbolic but it reflects a change in the regional approach toward the Syrian conflict, Reuters commented.

IRAN

'Spy plane' warned off above Sea of Oman

The Iranian navy said it identified and warned off a US reconnaissance plane near the Gulf of Oman on Sunday, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported. "After the warning, the spy plane was prevented from entering the country's skies without authorization," said the report, identifying the plane as a US Navy EP-3E. There was no immediate comment from the United States. The Lockheed EP-3 is an electronic signals reconnaissance variant of the P-3 Orion, operated by the US Navy. Iran has had similar confrontations with US forces in the past. In 2019, Iran shot down a US drone which it said was flying over southern Iran. On Dec 31, Iran said its military had launched a drone to warn off a reconnaissance plane trying to approach Iranian war games.

INDIA

Gandhi appeals against defamation conviction

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday lodged an appeal against his conviction for defamation, hoping to overturn a judgment that resulted in his expulsion from Parliament a year before a general election is due. The court accepted his petition and posted it for hearing on April 13. Gandhi, 52, was found guilty of defamation last month in a case brought by a state lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party after comments Gandhi made in a 2019 speech were deemed to be insulting to the prime minister and other people surnamed Modi. The speed of his removal from Parliament shocked political circles in India.

Agencies - Xinhua