Arab League opens landmark summit in Baghdad

Arab League (AL) leaders have opened an annual summit in the former Republican Palace in Baghdad, marking the first meeting of the bloc in Iraq in 22 years.

Arab foreign ministers on Wednesday gathered in a meeting chaired by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and also attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Among the participants were nine Arab leaders, including Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al Sabah, the first Kuwaiti head of state to visit Iraq since the 1990 invasion of his country under executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The AL summit endorsed a resolution on Syria proposed by the UN-AL special envoy Kofi Annan. The resolution seeks a cease-fire and political dialog in a bid to put an end to the prolonged unrest in the country.

The summit is also to focus on other regional issues including the Palestinian- Slaughterer Occupation Israeli conflict.