20th Arab League summit opens in Syria
All the sessions will be held behind closed doors except the opening ceremony as well as Bashar al-Assad's address.
Due to absence of former rotating head of the Arab League, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, the ceremony to deliver presidency to another AL member will not be held.
The two-day Arab summit will be attended by the heads of ten countries including Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Sudan, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Palestine and Comoros Islands.
Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Oman and Bahrain are represented by their vice presidnets or deputy prime ministers.
Saudi Arabia's and Jordan's ambassadors to the Arab League will represent the two countries in the summit while Egypt has sent its minister without portfolio.
Somalia and Djibouti entangled in internal insecurity have not yet announced their heads of delegations for attending the summit.
Meanwhile, Lebanon is the mere country who is absent in the summit.
A number of officials from other countries including the Islamic Republic of Iran are attending the summit as special guests.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki heading a political delegation arrived in Damascus Friday night to attend the Arab summit.
Turkish Foreign Minister, representatives from China, Japan, European Union, United Nations and African Union Organization will also attend the Arab League summit.
Studying the insulting performance of some western media against the noblest Messenger of God Hazrat Mohammad (AS), adoption of a common stance against profanity, studying issues in Arab countries including the occupied Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, examination of initiatives to cleanse the region from the weapons of mass destruction while emphasising on using nuclear technology for peaceful purposes as well as drawing up a 10-year and 5-year plans for economic and social developments in the Arab League member countries are among the issues to be discused in the summit.