Arab foreign ministers meet ahead of Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Arab foreign ministers are meeting Wednesday in Saudi Arabia ahead of the Arab League’s annual summit in the kingdom to discuss the upcoming gathering’s agenda and draft resolutions. This year’s summit, starting Friday in the city of Jeddah, will mark the readmittance of Syria into the 22-member league, after a 12-year suspension. Syria’s membership was frozen following Syrian President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on the 2011 mass protests against his rule. The country quickly descended into a brutal civil war that has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. The summit also comes as Arab governments are scrambling to resolve the conflict in Sudan which has left over 600 people dead and displaced tens of thousands.