By Ibrahim Khazen
CAIRO (AA) - Palestine announced Friday that the Arab League will hold a preparatory meeting at the permanent representatives level on Sunday at its headquarters in Cairo.
The meeting will set the stage for a delayed emergency ministerial meeting, which has yet to be rescheduled.
According to a statement by Palestine's permanent representative to the Arab League, Mohannad Aklouk, the emergency ministerial session originally planned for Sunday was postponed for technical reasons rather than substantive issues.
Aklouk said the postponement was to ensure thorough preparations and to encourage higher participation from Arab foreign ministers.
The preparatory meeting of the Arab League Council will take place at 11 a.m. local time (0900GMT), he added.
The emergency ministerial meeting is expected to be convened “as soon as possible, likely by the end of next week.”
“Arab states and the Arab League General Secretariat supported Palestine's request to hold the emergency ministerial session,” added Aklouk.
The ministerial meeting will focus on “mechanisms to implement decisions from the Arab-Islamic Summit in November 2024, and resolutions from the Arab League Summit in May 2024 and the ministerial session in September 2024. These decisions pertain to halting Israeli aggression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the starvation of civilians in Gaza, as well as addressing the catastrophic humanitarian consequences.”
The Arab League announced Thursday the postponement of the emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers. It did not provide details on reasons for the delay or specify a new date.
It added that the emergency session, requested by Syria and Palestine, was set to discuss the current situation in Syria, Israeli aggression and massacres against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and occupied territories, as well as Israeli threats against Iraq.
Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 44,600 victims, most of them women and children, and injuring over 105,800.
The second year of the genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labeling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last month for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
Fighting between Syrian regime forces and anti-regime groups broke out Nov. 27 in Aleppo’s western countryside.
By Nov. 30, the opposition forces had taken control of most of Aleppo’s city center and established dominance across Idlib province.
On Dec. 1, the Syrian National Army launched Operation Dawn of Freedom against the PKK/YPG terror group in the Tel Rifaat district of Aleppo's countryside, liberating the area from terrorist elements.
Anti-regime forces captured Hama on Thursday and continued to advance Friday, seizing the Rastan and Talbiseh districts in Homs province.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio