The 24th Arab League summit, which opens today in Doha, promises to be one of the organization’s most important. As the crisis in Syria enters its third bloody year, the League, whose early concerted efforts to mediate between the Assad regime and the opposition were undermined by Damascus, has taken the historic step of awarding Syria’s seat at the summit to the opposition.

In a pre-summit move backed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Arab League foreign ministers’ meeting Sunday in Doha agreed that the true representatives of the Syrian people were those who oppose and are fighting to bring to an end 42 years of ruthless dictatorship. There can be no doubt that this is a major blow to Assad. He might have imagined that rather than send some mealy-mouthed minister to try to justify to the rest of the Arab world, his unjustifiable savagery, Syria’s empty seat at the summit would constitute some sort of mute rebuke to League members. In the event, Syria’s long-suffering people, rather than the regime that is oppressing them, will be represented today and tomorrow in Doha. The rebukes thus for Assad.

It is however deeply regrettable, that the head of the Syrian National Coalition, Moaz Al-Khatib, chose the eve of the summit to announce his resignation. Though Al-Khatib has said that he will still come to address the League, there will be considerable concern among members that once again the Syrian opposition is damaging its cause by its inability to present a united front.

In the eyes of some members of the coalition, Al-Khatib was wrong to continue to offer dialogue with the Assad regime, while it is reported that he was also unhappy with the formation of the provisional government. In a tweet message, Al-Khatib said that he had decided to come and speak to the summit “in the name of the Syrian people.” It can be confidently expected, that on the very same grounds, League members will be seeking to persuade Al-Khatib to reconsider his decision.

What Syria’s opposition needs at this moment is unity. The League must use its good offices to impress this key factor, not simply on Al-Khatib but on the other dissenting parts of the coalition.

Another League state with political challenges is Lebanon, which is being represented by its President Michel Suleiman, following the resignation on Sunday of Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Suleiman is expected to tell the summit that it is imperative that his country should continue to disassociate itself from events in neighboring Syria. Lebanon is still recovering from its own brutal civil war, which only ended after 25 years with the 1990 Riyadh Conference.

Many would argue that Assad’s war of survival has already overflowed into Lebanon, with covert support for the regime from Hezbollah and widespread sympathy and support among other Lebanese communities for the fighters. It is however crucial, not just for Lebanon but for the wider region, that the conflict does not overflow Syria’s borders.

In this respect, as in the nuclear question, the role of Iran is bound to be a subject of debate at the summit. There will be cautious optimism that following comments by Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran now seems prepared to talk directly to Washington about its nuclear program. There will also be concern that the Iranian aircraft are crossing Iraqi airspace with weapons and munitions for the Assad regime.

Libya’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdulaziz took time out from the foreign ministers’ meeting in Doha on Sunday to say that he intended to call for the reform and modernization of the Arab League. He said that the reform needed to be institutional and there had to be a completed review of rules and procedures to allow the League to respond more quickly and fully to the challenges facing the Arab world. There will be many member states that will agree with him and have, indeed put forward their own arguments to update the organization and make it more nimble and responsive.

However some will think it ironic that this call for change comes from Libya, where arguably, the Arab League had one of its finest hours, organizing support for the UN resolution imposing a no-fly zone, a key first step in the downfall of the Qaddafi regime. It was this success which led to the UN/Arab League peace monitoring mission, which did everything it possibly could to police a cease-fire which tragically, the Assad regime never had any intention of honoring.