Arab League Starts Preparations for Algeria Summit

Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, Egypt (File photo: Reuters)
Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, Egypt (File photo: Reuters)
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Arab League Starts Preparations for Algeria Summit

Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, Egypt (File photo: Reuters)
Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, Egypt (File photo: Reuters)

Algeria sent an official invitation to the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, to visit and consult on arrangements for holding the thirty-first regular session of the Arab Summit, which Algeria offered to host this year.

Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Hossam Zaki received the Algerian ambassador to Cairo, Mohand Ladjouzi, who carried a message from Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum in which he offered to prepare for the upcoming Arab summit in light of current challenges facing the Arab world.

Ambassador Zaki said that the Secretary-General's visit to Algeria is expected to take place as soon as possible.

Media reports indicated that Algeria will host the summit at the end of March as the Secretary-General previously confirmed that it will be held as scheduled.

Meanwhile, the 105th ministerial session of the Arab Economic and Social Council kicks off Thursday at the headquarters of the General-Secretariat of the Arab League in Cairo, with the participation of Arab economy and trade ministers.

The Council will discuss preparing economic and social topics for the upcoming Arab summit, in addition to all issues of joint Arab economic and social action.

Assistant Secretary-General and Head of Social Affairs sector at the Arab League, Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, stated that the agenda of the 105th session of the Council includes several important items, namely the economic and social issues of the League’s Council, and follow-up on the implementation of the Arab-African summit decisions issued at its fourth session at Malabo – Equatorial Guinea 2016.

Officials will also prepare the economic aspects for the fifth summit, to be held in Riyadh next March 16 and its theme: “Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) and the developments of the Arab customs union”, along with other economic and social items.



18,000 Syrians Returned Home from Jordan Since Assad’s Fall

Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
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18,000 Syrians Returned Home from Jordan Since Assad’s Fall

Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)

About 18,000 Syrians have crossed into their country from Jordan since the government of Bashar Assad was toppled earlier this month, Jordanian authorities said on Thursday.
Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya told state TV channel Al-Mamlaka that “around 18,000 Syrians have returned to their country between the fall of the regime of Bashar Assad on December 8, 2024 until Thursday.”
He said the returnees included 2,300 refugees registered with the United Nations.
Amman says it has hosted about 1.3 million Syrians who fled their country since civil war broke out in 2011, with 650,000 formally registered with the United Nations.

Earlier this month, Al-Faraya said that security circumstances now allow Syrian refugees to return to their country.

"What prevented refugees from returning to their country was the security issue and now this has changed,” he said.

The minister said information suggests that security conditions on the northern border of the Kingdom with Syria are stable, adding that what is happening today in Syria represents "the end of a tragedy and years of suffering."

The Jaber-Nasib border crossing, which is located about 80 kilometers west of Amman, is currently the only functioning crossing between the two countries.