By Prensa Latina
Damascus : The first heads of State or their representatives arrived in the capital of Syria, Damascus on Friday to attend the 20th Arab League Summit, a forum in which the absence of some statesmen is associated to strong US pressures.
Comoros Union President Ahmed Abdalah Mohamed Sambi was the first statesman welcomed in this capital by Syrian governor Bashar Al-Assad.
Also here are Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Iraq’s Adel Abdul-Mehdi, Yemen’s Abdulah Saleh Al-Bar, as well as top authorities.
A source closed to the meeting told Prensa Latina that 12 of 22 Arab League heads of State are expected to attend the summit.
For Syria, the success of the summit is that presidents will analyze the Middle East’s most decisive issues with direct and firm statements.
Important regional nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt declined to attend the meeting, as well as monarchs from Jordan, Morocco, and Bahrain.
Syria denounced through Foreign Minister Al-Mouallem that the White House openly press several regional countries to abstain of participating in the summit, using as a pretext the political crisis in Lebanon.