Foreign ministers at a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) .jpg) agreed on Monday to suspend the membership of Syrian from the international body.
The ministers were holding preparatory talks before a two-day OIC summit in Mecca starting on Tuesday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi earlier said his country opposed the suspension of Syria’s membership in the organization.
The secretary general of the OIC, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, has told AFP that war-ravaged Syria will not be represented in the summit.
On Monday, Ihsanoglu told the meeting that he was “sorry Syria has entered a dark tunnel which has no clear end.” adding that this “is the expected outcome of ignoring the demands of the people.”
Syria is “living the horrors of a grinding war from which the OIC has repeatedly warned,” he said.
Tuesday’s summit has been called by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.
Iran is Assad’s key supporter and has repeatedly warned against intervention in the 17-month conflict that has killed more than 21,000 people, according to monitoring groups. |