Saudi Arabia to host extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh

Saudi Arabia will host an extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh on Saturday, the Saudi foreign ministry said late on Friday.

Saudi Arabia was scheduled to host two extraordinary summits, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit and the Arab League summit, on Saturday.

 According to the Saudi Foreign Ministry, the decision "comes as a sense from the leaders of all countries of the importance of uniting efforts and coming up with a unified collective position that expresses the common Arab-Islamic will on the dangerous and unprecedented developments in Gaza and the Palestinian territories are witnessing the require the unity of the Arab and Islamic ranks in confronting and containing their repercussions."

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in Riyadh on Friday. He will take part in an OIC summit for the first time since Syria’s membership was fully reinstated. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Saudi Arabia for the first time since diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored in March.