CAIRO, Aug 26 (Aswat Masriya) - The Arab league has postponed a meeting when it was scheduled to issue a protocol forming an agreed upon 'unified military force', it announced on Wednesday.

The meeting, originally due to be held on Thursday, was postponed upon the request of Saudi Arabia's permanent representative, the AL said in a statement.

A memorandum from Saudi Arabia requesting the postponement of the meeting was endorsed by Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, the statement read. It added that the decision to postpone the meeting was reached following consultations with Egypt representatives.

Arab leaders agreed in principle to establishing a unified military force, during the conclusion of the AL summit in March. 

AL Secretary General Nabil al-Araby earlier said that the proposed force will not be a new military coalition but a multi-task force, carrying out peacekeeping missions, rescue operations, humanitarian and aid work and "rapid intervention to eradicate terrorism."    

According to the text of the decision to establish it, the proposed force "will carry out rapid military intervention and other tasks assigned to it to confront challenges threatening the security and peace of any of its members states and their sovereignty."

It will also confront challenges "posing direct threats to Arab national security, including threats from terrorist organisations." 

The AL is yet to reschedule the meeting for issuing the resolution forming the unified force.

Egypt backs the joint force and has been steadfast on calls to establish it, especially since launching airstrikes on militant targets in Libya in February.

Several Arab countries are currently struggling to contain a wave of militant insurgency including Syria and Iraq, where large areas have fallen under the control of Islamic State fighters. Libya and Yemen have also fallen into the turmoil gripping the region.