An international summit in Baghdad on “regional stability” planned for late November has been postponed due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, an Iraqi official told AFP.

The third edition of the Baghdad conference “for economic integration and regional stability”, co-organised by France, “is postponed until further notice due to the regional events” in the Middle East, said Farhad Alaaldin, adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani.

Confirming a report by French daily Le Figaro, Alaaldin said the Baghdad summit, which French President Emmanuel Macron was due to attend, had been pushed back “to focus on Iraq’s efforts to reach a ceasefire and help the Palestinian people and their plight”.

He did not say who was behind the postponement or when the summit would be held.

The gathering, which follows one in Baghdad in 2021 and another in Jordan late last year, was announced by the Iraqi and French governments in August with the aim of establishing “a regional agenda in support of Iraqi sovereignty” after years of unrest.