The 29th Arab summit is scheduled to kick off in Saudi Arabia on Sunday as the world’s attention is turned to Syria in wake of the western strikes against regime targets, prompted by its chemical attack against Douma on April 7.
Held amid tight security measures in Dhahran in the Eastern Province, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz will open the summit, whose agenda will cover several issues of Arab concern.
Leaders of several Arab countries will attend the summit and they will hold closed-door talks to discuss the summit agenda. The summit will be concluded by a major military parade, which will be attended by the leaders, headed by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
The American, French and British air strikes against Syrian regime chemical and military installations will be the most heated topic of discussion at the two-day summit, as well as Iran’s meddling in Arab internal affairs.
The 16 articles of the agenda were tackled earlier this week by Arab foreign ministers and representative.
They also covered the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, efforts to revive the Arab peace initiative and Israeli violations in Jerusalem and settlement-building.
The summit will also condemn the ballistic missile attacks carried out by the Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen against Saudi Arabia and address efforts to help the Yemeni people resolve their crisis.
The summit will study developing an Arab system aimed at combating terrorism.
A source from the Arab League told Asharq Al-Awsat that the kings, presidents and leaders of 17 countries will attend the summit.
The first of these leaders to arrive in Saudi Arabia were Somali President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmaajo, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, Iraqi President Fouad Maasum, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, United Arab Emirates Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord Fayez al-Sarraj and Omani Deputy Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs Fahd bin Mahmoud al-Saeed.
