The Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, indicated that Syria requires a pioneering Arab effort to settle the crisis and “more flexibility from all concerned parties to dispel the darkness of economic collapse and political blockage.”

His comments came during his speech at the 21st Arab Summit, which kicked off in Algeria on 1 November and will last for two days.

The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in November 2011 following the start of the western-backed war.

Ending the freeze of Syria’s membership in the League was at the top of the pre-summit discussions, until Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra announced this September that Damascus preferred not to bring up the issue at the summit, in order to unite the Arab ranks in the face of challenges.

Aboul Gheit spoke of a “dangerous triad” that includes food, energy, and climate, representing a continuum and an interconnected system. He said food production depends on energy prices and climate stability, and climate change is mainly affected by emissions generated by energy production.

The Egyptian diplomat pointed out that the Arab countries need a comprehensive strategy to deal with the “protracted crisis” and considered that the Arab food security strategy presented at the summit is a model and an example of what the Arab countries can do collectively in facing their crises.

“Extinguishing the flaring Arab crises has become a severe duty more than ever,” Aboul Gheit said, adding: “It is no longer acceptable to throw our problems on the shoulders of the international community, which is carrying heavy loads.”

On the Palestinian issue, the Secretary-General of the Arab League stressed that the Israeli escalation is “foreshadowing what is worse,” saying that the world “stands idly by and does not defend the two-state solution.”

Recent figures published by the UN envoy to Syria say that more than 80 percent of Syrians live in poverty, leaving much of the population dependent on humanitarian assistance.

The current summit is being held after a 3-year interruption due to the Corona pandemic after the Tunis Summit in 2019.