The 26th Arab Summit is due to get underway later on Saturday with participation 14 Arab presidents, kings and leaders from Egypt, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, Iraq, Mauritania, Djibouti, Somalia, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain.
Yemeni crisis is forecast to dominate the top leaders’ deliberations in this two-day summit chaired by Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi.
The two-day summit agenda tackles more than 11 topics including ‘the Palestinian cause, the Arab-Israeli strife, the Arab peace initiative, the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and solidarity with Lebanon,’ according to a report by Kuwait News Agency.
President of Yemen Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who arrived in Egypt on Friday will attend the Arab League conference.
On the eve of the summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region forged an Arab military coalition to carry out air strikes this week against the Iranian regime’s aggression in Yemen.
The emir of Kuwait, the kings of Jordan and Bahrain, presidents of Tunisia and the Palestinian Authority, the speaker of Libya’s internationally recognized parliament and UN chief Ban Ki-moon are among other leaders expected to attend the Saturday-Sunday gathering.
The summit is being held under tight security, with extra police and army deployed on the streets of what is normally a tourist resort and with military aircraft patrolling its skies.
Arab foreign ministers, in preparatory meetings, already agreed Thursday on the force, in a draft resolution to be submitted to Arab leaders.
They “agreed on an important principle, to establish the force”, Arab League secretary general Nabil al-Arabi told a news conference.
“This is the first time that a force will be created and work under the name of Arab states,” he said, describing the move as “historic”.
The rapid response force envisaged by the Arab League will work to counter “terrorists”, Arabi told AFP in a recent interview.
The draft, seen by AFP, said the force would be carry out “rapid response operations” against threats to Arab states.
