Baghdad: Iraqi newspapers issued in Baghdad on Tuesday focused on the Arab-Islamic emergency summit held in Doha to discuss the Israeli aggression against Qatar.
According to National Iraqi News Agency, Al-Zawraa newspaper, issued by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, highlighted the participation of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in the summit. Al-Sudani reaffirmed in his speech Iraq’s firm stance in condemning the attacks that threaten the security and stability of the region. He expressed Iraq’s full solidarity with the State of Qatar, the Palestinian people, and the peoples subjected to aggression in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran.
Al-Sudani stressed that targeting Qatar represents ‘a serious escalation and a blatant violation of international law,’ warning that such aggression undermines ongoing diplomatic mediation efforts and deliberately kills prospects for peaceful solutions. He called on international and UN bodies, as well as major powers, to shoulder their responsibilities in halting the aggression and preventing the occupation from deliberately harming the international system. He emphasized that ‘the security and stability of any Arab or Islamic state is an inseparable part of collective security, and cannot be subject to negotiation.’
The Prime Minister also urged for a unified Arab-Islamic position condemning the assault on Doha, along with international measures that hold the aggressor accountable and bring it under international justice. He noted that any targeting of an Arab or Islamic state must be treated as a direct threat to joint national security, requiring coordinated diplomatic action and deterrent measures to prevent recurrence.
Furthermore, Al-Sudani called for the formation of a broad Islamic alliance encompassing Arab and Islamic countries to confront the security and economic challenges facing their peoples. He also proposed the establishment of an Arab-Islamic Contact Group to approach the UN Security Council, the United Nations, and the European Union to convey the unified stance and defend the rights of the peoples.
Al-Sudani stressed the need to establish a comprehensive roadmap for a ceasefire in Gaza under international supervision, to be followed by a reconstruction phase managed through a joint UN-Arab mechanism. He underlined the importance of reaching a political path that guarantees the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, ‘the rightful owners of the land.’
On the sidelines of the summit, Al-Sudani also held bilateral meetings with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to discuss regional developments. In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Media Office said that Al-Sudani’s meeting with the Iranian president in Doha ‘addressed regional developments and the grave repercussions of the Israeli aggression, most recently the attack on the sister State of Qatar.’ The two sides stressed the importance of joint Arab and Islamic efforts to prevent the expansion of the conflict and to rely on diplomacy as a means of resolving crises and ensuring stability.
The statement added that the meeting also discussed enhancing and developing bilateral relations in various fields, particularly economic and developmental ones, in a way that serves the interests of both peoples and aligns with their shared vision for the future.
Meanwhile, Al-Zaman newspaper reported that Arab and Islamic leaders unanimously condemned the Israeli aggression against Qatar, describing it as ‘an immoral act that contravenes international law,’ and urged the UN Security Council to compel Israel to end its war on Gaza. Opening the summit, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani stated that ‘the treacherous attack occurred while Hamas leadership was studying an American proposal.’ The Organization of Islamic Cooperation also called for holding Israel accountable for its crimes in the region.
The emergency summit was held yesterday in Doha to deliberate on responses to the unprecedented Israeli attack that targeted Hamas officials in the Gulf state, which has long distanced itself from direct regional conflicts and played the role of mediator. Prime Minister Al-Sudani arrived in Doha to take part in the summit, which comes amid broad international condemnation of the Israeli assault – particularly from the wealthy Gulf states, close U.S. allies and key supporters of Tel Aviv – in a bid to forge a collective stance.
Ilham Fakhro, a researcher at Harvard University, said yesterday that ‘this summit is essentially a mechanism for the Gulf Cooperation Council states to demonstrate unity at a time when Israel directly targeted the sovereignty of a member state, in the first such attack in history.’ She added that ‘Gulf states are expected to use the summit to call on Washington to rein in Israel, after its strikes on Qatar weakened ceasefire efforts in Gaza, to which Tel Aviv has shown no serious commitment.’