March 2, 2003	Sunday	Zul Hijjah 28, 1423

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SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Egypt), March 1: Arab leaders on Saturday said they opposed an attack on Iraq as a threat against Arab national security, and said their countries would not participate in any invasion, a final communique said.

At the end of a one-day summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the Arab leaders agreed on “the complete rejection of a strike against Iraq, or threatening the security and safety of any Arab country, as a threat to the Arab national security”, said the communique, read out by Arab League chief Amr Moussa.

The leaders called for the crisis to be resolved peacefully under the umbrella of the United Nations, and asked that weapons inspectors be given enough time to complete their mission.

“They stressed that their countries refrain from participating in any military action that aims at the security, safety and territorial integrity of Iraq,” the final communique said.

Arab public opinion is firmly opposed to any action against Iraq.

Though the summit rejected a strike on Iraq, the position was complicated by the fact that several of the region’s states, such as Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, host US forces and may be used as launchpads for any US-led attack.

The UN Security Council is deeply divided over whether to approve an early attack on Iraq for failing to disarm voluntarily, or to give UN weapons inspectors more time to find and destroy any weapons of mass destruction.—AFP