Syria suspended from Arab League

Galaxy

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Syria suspended from Arab League

Saturday 12 November 2011


Syria has been suspended from the Arab League over its failure to end the bloodshed caused by brutal government crackdowns on pro-democracy protests in a move that will increase the international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.

At an emergency session of its 22 member states in Cairo to discuss the crisis, the league decided to exclude Syria until it implements the terms of an earlier agreed peace deal to stop the violence.

The league also agreed to impose economic and political sanctions on Syria over its failure to stop the violence and appealed to its member states to withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus, the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr bin Muhammad Al Thani, said.

"Syria is a dear country for all of us and it pains us to make this decision," he said. "We hope there will be a brave move from Syria to stop the violence and begin a real dialogue toward real reform."

However, he said the vote did not signal military intervention as happened in Libya, adding that "no one is talking about a no-fly zone".

"We were criticised for taking a long time but this was out of our concern for Syria," he said. "We needed to have a majority to approve those decisions.

"We are calling all Syrian opposition parties to a meeting at the Arab League headquarters to agree a unified vision for the transitional period."

He also called on the Syrian army to stop its involvement in the killing of civilians.

He said 18 countries had backed the decision while Lebanon, Yemen and Syria voted against and Iraq abstained.

The exclusion will come into effect on Wednesday.

Syria's representative to the Arab League said suspending Damascus breached the organisation's charter and showed it was "serving a western and American agenda", Reuters reported.

Wael Merza, the secretary general of the opposition Syrian National Council, told al-Jazeera the decision marked "a historic day for Syria as a country, the Syrian revolution and the Arab League".

But he added the move could inflame tensions on the ground in the short term.

"Unfortunately, knowing the nature of the regime, we know the violence will be even more harsh in the coming few days," he said.

"But this move isolates the regime to a great extent – economically, diplomatically and politically."

Outside the meeting, hundreds of Syrians waving flags and banging drums celebrated as news of the league's decision filtered out. Children were wrapped in Syrian headbands, singing broke out and passing cars honked their horns in appreciation.

The protesters had called for international protection from Assad's regime. By the side of the road canvas sacks stuffed with straw were laid out like body bags in a morgue, each one scrawled with the name of a different Arab nation undergoing its own political upheaval. Demonstrators said the mock corpses represented the thousands that have been killed across the region in the struggle for liberation.

Mohamed Saidi, an electrical engineer who was born in Homs, flew from his job in Saudi Arabia to join the protests in Cairo. "If Arab unity still means anything, then it must mean something today," he said. "A message has to be sent, and that is 'The killing stops, right now.' We must speak as one on this; everything else is secondary."

The British foreign secretary, William Hague, welcomed the decision to suspend Syria over its repression of political protesters.

He said: "We support the Arab League in its efforts to bring about an end to the killing of Syrian people. The continuing violence is deplorable and must stop."

The league's decision comes as November looks likely to become the bloodiest month yet in Syria's eight-month-old uprising. More than 250 Syrian civilians have been killed in the past 11 days as the regime besieges cities, especially Homs and Hama, along the border with Lebanon and Idlib in the north.

The Syrian peace arrangement reached at the start of November involved government troops and tanks being withdrawn from these regions. However, violence between regime security forces and opposition groups has not slowed since. In Homs, at least nine people were killed in battles on Friday between security forces and armed opposition groups, including defectors. Another seven people were killed in other parts of Syria.

The deal's failure had damaged the standing of the pan-Arab body, which has largely remained flat-footed as revolutions rumbled across the Middle East this year.

Human Rights Watch has accused the Syrian regime of committing crimes against humanity throughout the uprising, which has killed more than 3,500 civilians and about 1,500 members of the security forces.

Syria suspended from Arab League | World news | guardian.co.uk
 

Armand2REP

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I guess we have to enforce a No-Fly Zone next.
 

Zebra

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I agree. We need to enforce a No-Fly-Zone so that no NATO plane can fly in or close to Syria. ;)
haha , It will be interesting to see that , if it happens .

even though it never happened in past . :popcorn:
 

civfanatic

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How would you even do it?
We can't. "Might makes right", that's the only law that international relations follow. Someone tried saying once that human beings today are "better" and "more evolved" than humans 10,000 years ago. What bullshit that was.
 

The Messiah

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We can't. "Might makes right", that's the only law that international relations follow. Someone tried saying once that human beings today are "better" and "more evolved" than humans 10,000 years ago. What bullshit that was.
That is correct. We are better at killing.
 

Galaxy

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Assad family is killing innocent people for last 40 years. All Muslims countries except Iran, Iraq and Syria wants U.S./Nato to attack Syria, Kill Assad and liberate Syria from dictatorship.
 

The Messiah

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Assad family is killing innocent people for last 40 years. All Muslims countries except Iran, Iraq and Syria wants U.S./Nato to attack Syria, Kill Assad and liberate Syria from dictatorship.
From our point of view assad is fine. I for one dont care what he does in his own country. Better him than western puppet.

When we were under sanctions ourselves syria was one the few countries that still traded with us.
 

Galaxy

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From our point of view assad is fine. I for one dont care what he does in his own country. Better him than western puppet.
Unfortunately, it's not true. Assad is hated by most of the Muslim countries. He already killed around 10,000 people in last 1 year. He and earlier his father is ruling Syria for last 40 years forcefully. He represents only 10% population. Majority of army, Elite, government officials are from same Alwis group. KSA, Turkey wants NATO to attack Syria in order to kill him. Yes, They want U.S. intervention. U.S./NATO will be 100 time better than Assad. At least they won't kill many people on daily basis. People of Iraq, Libya hated their dictator then only U.S. came. it may be advantage for U.S. in Oil rich Middle-east but the fact remains same that people are badly oppressed by few dictator. If U.S. won't intervene, Assad will continue killing more and more people which is going on for last 40 long years. U.S. action is completely justified.


When we were under sanctions ourselves syria was one the few countries that still traded with us.
I agree Assad was our friend and we should continue to support him but that doesn't justify killing of innocent people for last 40 years.
 

The Messiah

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Unfortunately, it's not true. Assad is hated by most of the Muslim countries. He already killed around 10,000 people in last 1 year. He and earlier his father is ruling Syria for last 40 years forcefully. He represents only 10% population. Majority of army, Elite, government officials are from same Alwis group. KSA, Turkey wants NATO to attack Syria in order to kill him. Yes, They want U.S. intervention. U.S./NATO will be 100 time better than Assad. At least they won't kill many people on daily basis. People of Iraq, Libya hated their dictator then only U.S. came. it may be advantage for U.S. in Oil rich Middle-east but the fact remains same that people are badly oppressed by few dictator. If U.S. won't intervene, Assad will continue killing more and more people which is going on for last 40 long years. U.S. action is completely justified.

I agree Assad was our friend and we should continue to support him but that doesn't justify killing of innocent people for last 40 years.
That may be right but then again i dont have a bleeding heart.

I only care about Indian citizens...rest are not my concern. Since assad is more inclined to tilt towards us so i wont be screaming from the rooftops to have him overthrown. I dont agree with his tactics but then again this is geopolitics.

If he is overthrown then you can bet that a wahhabi backed nutjob(s) will be calling the shots.
 

Zebra

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The drama of Syria is the Shia vs Sunni issue .

Syria, a majority Sunni Muslim nation of 20 million people, is dominated by Assad's minority Shia population .

And Arab League don't like it .
 

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