Additional Reporting By Angy Ghannam, IOL Staff

CAIRO, December 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Most Arab states announced they will start celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the feast marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, from Thursday, December 5.

According to the Muslim lunar calendar, Eid al-Fitr begins the morning after the sighting of the crescent moon ending Ramadan.

Muslim religious authorities in Palestine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Tunis, Libya, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Sudan, Somalia, Algeria, Turkey, announced that the new moon was sighted after sundown on Wednesday, December 4.

Also, France, Britain, Germany, Russia, Holland and Central Asia announced that Eid will start there on Thursday. Meanwhile, Malaysia and China declared they will celebrate Eid on Friday, December 6.

An Iraqi official said UN arms experts will suspend their inspections in Iraq for part of the holidays, which last several days.

"There will be no inspections tomorrow (Thursday) or the day after, but they will resume on Saturday," the official close to the operations told Agence France-Presse (AFP), asking not to be named.

The inspectors were not available to confirm the report, but a senior official hinted earlier at a suspension for the holidays.