Baghdad, 17 May 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Representatives of Arab countries started an annual summit in Iraq on Saturday, a day after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East trip and amid the months-long Gaza war.

Gaza is expected to top the agenda of the one-day meeting in Baghdad.

In his opening address, Iraqi President Abdullatif Rashid said his country is opposed to what he called attempts to displace the Palestinians from the homeland "under any circumstances or pretext."

Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit accused Israel of practising ethnic cleansing.

"It is disgraceful for a state to pursue ethnic cleansing in this era and the world keeps silent," the top Arab diplomat said at the summit.

"Israel's reckless policy in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon will thrust the whole region into endless cycles of confrontation," he added.

Several Arab leaders, including those of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are not attending the Baghdad meeting.

The participants are set to call on "all countries to offer political, financial and legal support" for a plan adopted at a summit held in Cairo in March for rebuilding the devastated Gaza Strip without displacing its inhabitants, Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported, citing a draft final statement.

The talks are also anticipated to welcome the relief of US sanctions on Syria.

Earlier this week, Trump announced the lifting of sanctions on Syria, a country shattered by more than a decade of war.

During his visit to Saudi Arabia, Trump met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday, marking the first encounter between leaders of the two countries in 25 years.

The sanctions were imposed in response to former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's brutal crackdown on protesters in 2011, and the violence his regime carried out against civilians during the ensuing civil war.

Al-Assad was overthrown in December by an Islamist-led rebel alliance commanded by al-Sharaa, who was later appointed interim president.