Arab League pondering suspending Syria

MrRelevant · Oct 17, 2011

BEIRUTThe Arab League has called an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss whether to suspend Syria, officials said, ramping up the pressure on Damascus to end its bloody crackdown on antigovernment protesters.

Suspension is unlikely to have a direct, tangible impact on Syria, but it would still constitute a major blow to President Bashar Assad's embattled regime by stripping Damascus of its Arab support and further deepening its isolation.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204479504576634931272379572.html

But I thought Assads forces were just quelling an armed insurgency. Seems like a drastic measure for the Arabs to take,no? Obviously the Arab league has been brainwashed by mainstream media and/or being influenced by the Jew-S-A to make this decision.

waltky · Oct 21, 2011

Assad better watch out or he may be the next to go the way of Khaddafi...

With Qaddafi's death, world attention turns to Syria
October 21, 2011 - Qaddafi's death emboldened protesters across Syria Friday. While international appetite for intervention is low, the Syrian conflict could intensify as regional actors back particular factions within the country.

With the death of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi bringing to an end Libya's nine-month revolution-turned-civil-war, international and regional attention is likely to now focus more squarely on Syria, another Arab country in the grip of anti-regime unrest and violence. Yes it will, especially as violence rises and the scale of the human rights offenses grows. This will be especially the case if regional players begin backing different factions in the country, says Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute and author of a newly published book on the country. Boosted by the collapse of the Qaddafi regime, protests erupted across Syria after noon prayers Friday. Syrian security forces had killed at least 16 civilians by mid-afternoon, 10 of them in the flashpoint city of Homs, which has emerged in recent weeks as the main hub of anti-regime activity.

Your turn has come Doctor, ran a message on the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page, referring to Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. In Taynnah, in the southern Hawran district, demonstrators were filmed chanting "Qaddafi is dead, prepare yourself Bashar." At least 3,000 people have died since the uprising began in mid-March, according to the United Nations. The civil war in Libya, where rebels supported by NATO tenaciously fought their way to Tripoli, slowly driving back Qaddafis forces until the former Libyan leaders final stand in his hometown of Sirte, made for a dramatic and compelling news story. But the broader impact of the revolution in Libya pales in comparison to the potential ramifications of the uprising in Syria. Under the leadership of the Assad dynasty for the past 40 years, Syria has secured enduring and powerful alliances. It exerts multiple strands of influence across the region, intersecting with the Middle Easts major fault lines of the Arab-Israeli conflict and rivalry between the Sunni Arab states led by Saudi Arabia and non-Arab Shiite Iran.

If the Assad regime collapses and a new administration emerges better reflecting the Sunni majority in Syria, it will deliver a blow to Iran, Assads closest regional ally, and undermine the so-called axis of resistance that unites countries and groups opposed to Israel and Western interests in the Middle East. Still, despite the rising death toll in Syria, for now there is little international appetite to transfer the NATO support mission in Libya to Syria. Furthermore, the Arab League, which gave an initial green light to NATO for the Libya campaign, is unlikely to sanction a Western intervention in Syria, and Russia and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, are still adamantly opposed to foreign interference in Syria. However, the confrontation in Syria is slowly evolving into an armed conflict. The Free Syrian Army, composed of defectors from the regular Syrian forces, are thought responsible for a growing number of attacks against security forces, staging roadside ambushes and attempting to carve out enclaves in the north of the country around Idlib and near Homs.

While a descent into armed conflict is widely predicted by analysts, the balance of military power for now will remain with the regime. That could lead to an intensification of the conflict, further violence, and increased loss of life, with rival regional actors offering greater support to different factions in Syria. With the NATO role in Libya coming to an end, Assads beleaguered regime may soon begin to bear the brunt of increased international diplomatic heat in the weeks ahead.

Source
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waltky · Nov 16, 2011

Assad facin' high noon...

Arab League gives Syria 3 days to stop bloodshed
11/16/2011 : Leaders refuse to elaborate on steps to be taken if Assad fails to comply with ultimatum; France pulls envoy from Damascus.

Arab League foreign ministers on Wednesday gave Syria's government three days to agree to end its crackdown on protesters and allow in teams of observers. The foreign ministers, meeting in the Moroccan capital, did not say what would happen if Damascus failed to comply. Asked if the proposal was a last-ditch attempt at diplomacy, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim al-Thani told reporters: "We do not want to talk about a last-ditch attempt because I do not want this to sound like a warning."

"What I can say is that we are close to the end of the road as far as the (Arab League's) efforts on this front are concerned," he said. Speaking at the same meeting, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said the time was not right to hold an Arab League summit on Syria. A communique issued at the conclusion of the foreign ministers' meeting in Rabat said: "Observers are to be sent into Syria if the Syrian government signs the agreement within three days starting today and once the violence and the killing stop."

"The observers will make sure Syrian security and pro-government militias do not attack peaceful demonstrations ... (and) will ensure that all armaments are withdrawn from cities and inhabited areas that have witnessed, or are witnessing protests," the communique said. France recalled its ambassador to Damascus as Syria's suspension from the Arab League took effect, intensifying diplomatic pressure on President Bashar Assad to halt a violent eight-month-old crackdown on protests. Syrian army defectors attacked an intelligence complex on the edge of Damascus in a high-profile assault that showed how close the popular uprising is to sliding into armed conflict.

Hours after the Arab League suspension took effect, Assad supporters threw stones and debris at the embassy of the United Arab Emirates and smeared its walls with graffiti, witnesses said. The embassy is in one of the most secure districts of the capital, near Assad's home and offices. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said France was working with the Arab League on a draft resolution at the United Nations. Last month Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have condemned Damascus, but since then the normally cautious Arab League has suspended Syria for failing to implement an Arab peace plan. "New violence is taking place and that has led to the closure of the missions in Aleppo and Latakia and to recall our ambassador to Paris," Juppe said, referring to weekend attacks by pro-Assad demonstrators on French diplomatic premises, as well as Turkish and Saudi missions, in Syria.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=245850
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See also:

Turkey threatens to cut electricity as Syria is more isolated
Tue November 15, 2011 - Turkey threatens to cut electric supplies to Syria; Arab foreign ministers to consider observer mission; Gulf states reject Syrian call for emergency Arab League meeting

Turkey threatened to cut off supplies of electricity to its neighbor Syria Tuesday, as the Damascus regime found itself under growing pressure from Arab, Turkish, European and North American governments for its ongoing lethal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. "We are supplying them (Syria) with electricity at the moment. If they stay on this course, we may be forced to re-examine all of these decisions," Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Tuesday, according to Turkey's semi-official Anatolian Agency. Turkey, once a close political ally and strong trading partner of Syria, welcomed a decision by the Arab League last weekend to suspend Syria's membership in the alliance.

Days after the humiliating rebuke, a senior Arab League official told CNN the group was floating a plan to try to send some 500 observers to protect civilians in Syria. According to the United Nations, more than 3,500 Syrians have been killed since anti-government protests first erupted in March. "In a meeting headed by Dr. Nabil Al Araby, the secretary-general of the Arab League, held Monday, the Arab League and Arab human rights organizations decided on a mechanism to protect Syrian civilians which will involve sending a delegation of 500 representatives of Arab organizations, media organizations, and military observers to Syria with the objective of documenting the situation on the ground," the official said to CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said the plan was to be presented at an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Morocco's capital Wednesday.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Juda confirmed to CNN that his government had received an invitation to contribute representatives to the proposed observer mission. "We are studying it right now," Juda said in a phone call with CNN Tuesday. "It might be verified tomorrow," he added, at the expected Arab League foreign ministers' meeting in Rabat. On Monday, Jordan's King Abdullah became the first Arab leader to publicly call for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down. "If Bashar has the interests of his country, he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life," Abdullah said in an interview with the BBC.

More http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/15/world/meast/syria-isolation/?hpt=hp_t3
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moon · Nov 16, 2011

Let's see the Iranians send in troops to end the Western-sponsored civil war. Better yet, a joint Turkish-Iranian peace-keeping force.

MrRelevant · Nov 16, 2011

moon said: ↑

Let's see the Iranians send in troops to end the Western-sponsored civil war. Better yet, a joint Turkish-Iranian peace-keeping force.
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They already are there arent they? Helping the Syrian troops slaughter civilians.

waltky · Nov 17, 2011

Looks like the beginnings of a civil war...

Report: Syrian army defectors attack military compound
Nov 16, 2011 - Syrian army defectors attack intelligence complex

Syrian activists say army defectors have attacked a military intelligence complex in the Damascus suburbs, Al-Jazeera reports.

Update at 11:35 a.m. ET: The Free Syrian Army said in a statement that its pre-dawn attack targeted a compound run by Air Force Intelligence in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, the Associated Press reports. Defectors also hit military checkpoints in the Damascus suburbs of Douma, Qaboun and Arabeen and Saqba. A Syrian opposition figure says the operation in Harasta was carried out by defectors who attacked the compound from three sides with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, the AP reports.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said defectors also killed eight Syrian soldiers and security forces in an attack on a checkpoint in a village in Hama province. The human rights group said 11 people were killed in the country on Wednesday, including three defectors ambushed by troops loyal to President Bashar Assad.

Original post: Al-Jazeera quotes a spokesperson for the Syrian Revolution General Commission as saying the defectors, members of the so-called Free Syrian Army, fired heavy weaponry and machine guns at a large air force intelligence complex in Harasta. "This is probably not the first attack on [a] security headquarters," said Al-Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Lebanon. "But what is significant about this attack is that it is in Damascus, the capital. This shows how much trouble there is for the regime." It is not clear how many soldiers have defected, but the spokesperson says they are carefully coordinated to enable former soldiers to flee with their weapons.

Al-Jazeera quotes one defector, identified as Mohammad Ahmad Harmous, as saying the former soldiers are engaged in "massive operations." Video footage shows a purported attack on a bus carrying Syrian soldiers on a mission to crackdown on the opposition uprising that has left more than 3,500 people dead since March. Syria's military is controlled by Assad's brother, Maher, and members of the minority Alawite faith, a sect of Shia Islam, Al-Jazeera notes. The army, however, is made up mostly of Sunni Muslims.

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