The one-day annual gathering of the Arab leaders called Arab Summit was opened yesterday at the eastern Saudi city Dhahran as tensions gripped the region over the Syria crisis, Israeli aggression on Palestine, Yemen's civil war and the Riyadh's growing conflict with Iran, reports BSS.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, also the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, opened the 29th Arab Summit 24 hours after the US, France and Britain launched coordinated air strikes in war-torn Syria in response to a reported regime chemical attack on the decimated rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta last week.

According to international media reports Syrian developments was supposed to take the center stage at the summit while King Salman called for unity of Arab policies against all challenges saying that the Palestinian cause was still the main issue for the Arab world to resolve.