This is the first time in more than 13 years that Turkey has been invited to participate in a meeting of the Arab League. On Monday, in Cairo, the foreign ministers of the regional organization met to discuss the situation in Gaza, and the Turkish diplomat gave a speech about regional significance. In front of his Arab counterparts, Hakan Fidan called for unity against Israel, accusing "those who continue to support [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu of being complicit in the ongoing genocide" in the Palestinian enclave.

The only shadow on the horizon for Ankara, which, in the aftermath of a foreign policy that seemed to be over, intends to play a leading regional role within the community of Muslim countries, is that the Syrian delegation left the room during the speech by its Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Led by Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, the Syrian team present in Cairo stood up and headed for the exit when Fidan's speech was announced, only to return once it was over.

Did Damascus, which rejoined the Arab League last May under the patronage of Saudi Arabia, therefore give the green light to its neighbor's presence at the summit only to humiliate it?

Between presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad, reconciliation is still awaited, after more than a decade of rivalry and clashes through proxy supporters.

While signs of openness to rapprochement have recently increased, encouraged in particular by Russia, they have not led to any results.

The presence of Turkish troops in northern Syria, the thorny issue of the return of refugees and the future of Kurdish forces in the northeast are all sticking points that are still pending. While the Turkish government is said to have put pressure on the Syrian opposition groups it supports not to obstruct reconciliation with Damascus, the withdrawal of Turkish forces is an essential condition for any normalization, according to Mekdad.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.