Arab League



"The Arab League's purpose is to keep the Arab world at peace, and make sure that every Arab in that region would be under their control. Unfortunately, the Arab League is failing to keep the Arab world at peace."

--Su Ji-Hoon, The Pharaoh's Sorrow

The Arab League (Arabic: الجامعة العربية‎ Al-Jāmiʻah al-ʻArabīyah), formally the League of Arab States (Arabic: جامعة الدول العربية‎ Jāmiʻat ad-Duwal al-ʻArabīyah), is a regional organization of Arab states in and around North Africa, the Horn of Africa and Arabia. It was formed in Cairo on March 22, 1945 with six members: Kingdom of Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, Transjordan (renamed Jordan in 1949), Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a member on May 5, 1945. Currently, the League has 22 (twenty-two) members, but Syria's participation has been suspended since November 2011, as a consequence of government repression during the Syrian Civil War.

The League's main goal is to "draw closer the relations between member states and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries."