Syria will be suspended from the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation on Wednesday for its violent suppression of a 17-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, a diplomat said on Monday ahead of an emergency OIC summit in Makkah. "The resolution regarding the suspension of the Syrian membership in the OIC is not facing obstacles ... It will be approved," said the diplomat, speaking on the sidelines of a preliminary foreign ministers meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
He said the decision was likely to be formally announced at the end of the second day of the summit, which was called by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah earlier this month. Iran, which has backed the government of President Bashar al-Assad in his response to the uprising, and has accused the OIC summit hosts Saudi Arabia of assisting the rebels, said it opposed the resolution. "By suspending membership, this does not mean that you are moving toward resolving an issue. This means that you are erasing the issue. We want to really resolve the issue," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi to reporters in Jeddah.