The Arab Peace Initiative Committee’s emergency meeting will be chaired by HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani
AFP/QNA/Cairo
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An Arab League committee on Syria will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday ahead of an international peace conference on ending the country’s civil war, the bloc’s deputy leader said yesterday.
The meeting would discuss a US-Russian push for a conference aimed at finding a political solution to the Syria conflict, Ahmed Ben-Hilli told reporters in Cairo.
The Arab Peace Initiative Committee’s emergency meeting will be chaired by HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani.
The meeting, Ben-Hilli said, was in response to a request from Qatar to discuss the latest Syrian developments, especially in view of the call to organise an international meeting to find a political solution to Syrian crisis.
The meeting will be held one day after the Friends of Syria conference in Jordan.
Members of the ministerial committee are Qatar, Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Oman, Iraq, the UAE, Bahrain Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, in addition to Arab League secretary general Nabil al-Arabi.
Earlier yesterday, al-Arabi expressed concern over the “dangerous” military escalation in the Syrian city of Qusayr, which has been bombarded by planes and heavy artillery for two days now.
Al-Arabi, in a statement, called on all parties to exercise restraint and stop the escalation of hostilities “in preservation of civilians, prevention of sectarian and religious discord that some is trying to drag Syria and the region to”.
He called on regional and international parties to intervene swiftly to stop bloodshed for creating a suitable atmosphere to hold an international conference to reach a political solution.
Al-Arabi received leaders of the Syrian National Council (SNC) who urged the Arab League to intervene to stop the Syrian regime’s military operations in Qusayr.
Also yesterday, the United Arab Emirates called for political action to stop“the repressive machine” in Damascus. Page 14