Rifts over foreign policy will likely make it harder for Arab leaders meeting in Kuwait to forge a common stand on regional challenges, including what many of them see as a threat from Iranian-US rapprochement.

And while the Arab League meeting may agree more humanitarian action in response to Syria’s war, any communiqué calling for the removal of President Bashar Assad will not reflect divergent views behind the scenes about the Syrian leader’s handling of the conflict.

Syria and Iran are not the only points of contention at the annual summit.

The meeting follows an unprecedented row among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) over support for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and over violence in Iraq’s Anbar province.

“No summit has been without differences, but this one is full of differences. It is distinguished by the intensity of these disputes which puts an extra burden on the host country,” said Ebtisam Al-Qitbi, a professor of political science at the Emirates University in the United Arab Emirates.

“It will definitely make it more difficult to focus on coming out with adequate resolutions, not to mention an agreement on anything,” she added.

Arab summits have long been dominated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a topic on which most Arab states share a common view. But “Arab Spring” uprisings that began in 2011 have polarized the region. Syria’s war echoes strains between Sunni Muslims and Shiites.

“There is a desperate need to clear the Arab atmosphere and to benefit from convening the summit,” Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said in remarks carried by Egyptian media last week.

In separate remarks, Elaraby agreed at a news conference that the summit’s decisions would be affected by “differences.”

Most Gulf Arab states, wary of Iranian influence in the region want the summit to send a strong message to Iran to stop meddling in their affairs.

They also fret that their main ally, the United States, participating in talks about Iran’s disputed nuclear program, may one day restore full ties with Tehran three decades after they were cut in a crisis over the taking of US hostages.

“Gulf states see the main challenge coming from Iran’s geopolitical project,” Qitbi said. “This project is getting strong and is trying to find cracks through which to penetrate the Arab wall.”

The summit is also likely to be complicated by the political fragility of Egypt, the most populous Arab country: Cairo has been absorbed by its own internal problems since Egypt’s army ousted President Muhammed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood group from power last year after mass protests against his rule.

- REUTERS