ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq will ban all forms of protests starting Sunday as the country prepares to host the 34th summit of the Arab League next Saturday, the country’s interior ministry said.

“The Iraqi Ministry of Interior affirms that no demonstrations will be organized, regardless of the reasons, whether service-related or otherwise,” the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Saturday. 

“No demonstration licenses will be issued, and any attempt to do so will be in violation of the law. Instructions have been issued to arrest anyone attempting to demonstrate from May 11th to May 20th,” the statement added.

Baghdad will be home to the 34th Arab League Summit on May 17, where leaders from Arab states will gather and discuss the latest developments in the Arab world, this primarily includes the Israeli war on Gaza, as well as the new Syrian administration.

Iraq officially in late April extended a formal invitation to new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Sharaa is yet to confirm his attendance publicly.

Several prominent Iraqi political and civil voices have time and again rejected the establishment of any relations with Sharaa’s Syria, given a rather bloody history the former Al-Qaeda jihadist has in Iraq.