Arab League Mission in Syria Continues to Crumble
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The Arab League mission to monitor Syria’s bloody crackdown on anti-government protests has suffered another blow, as a second member of the delegation threatened to abandon a mission that is rapidly losing its credibility.
A day after one delegate who left the mission told reporters of his frustration over the Syrian government’s lack of cooperation, another delegate threatened to leave Syria for the same reasons.
Several Arab League monitors were wounded in an attack on them while they carried out their work. Syrian authorities have ignored their requests to take steps such as removing weapons and military personnel from mosques in cities where protests have taken place, and the casualty rate in the army’s response to the protests has actually increased since the monitors began their work three weeks ago.
The ineffectiveness of the mission and the disgust expressed by at least two of its members have not only the Syrian opposition, but many observers across the Arab world, openly questioning its relevance. Syrian President Bashar Assad, in a speech to his nation on Tuesday, mocked the mission and declared it a toothless body.
On Wednesday, a French journalist was killed when grenades were lobbed at more than a dozen foreign reporters who were participating in a government-sponsored trip to one of the centers of protest activity. The government and the opposition blamed each other for responsibility.
Beyond Syria’s borders, an international embargo on arms shipments continued to be observed, as Cyprus diverted a Russian ship, heading to Syria with as much as 60 tons of weapons, to Turkey instead.
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One Response to “Arab League Mission in Syria Continues to Crumble”
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Yeah, the same-old, same-old.
If Israel was either the nation being watched or being “the watcher” we’d have heard some real international screaming over this, especially over the French journalist being killed; we all know that some way would have been found to blame Israel for this.
That, coupled with the fact that is it an Alawite (close enough to Shi’ia, much as the Disciples of Christ are to Baptists) minority ruling over a Sunni majority is another factor that is glossed over.
Yeah; there is one standard for Israel and another for Arabs and Muslims; this whole business in Syria has been getting even less press (and admittedly it IS smaller) than the Iran-Iraq war which is proof of what the world really does think of Arabs and Muslims, especially when they’re killing each other, which obviously, isn’t much.
The other, perhaps bigger issue is the simmering pot between the Syrian leadership and Turkey; Syria has 20 SCUD missile launchers, all ready and waiting and while some or all of them might be aimed at Israel, it is Turkey that might genuinely be facing the brunt of this; the Syrian leadership doesn’t like the Turkish havening of Syrian, Sunni refugees.
Turkey is in big trouble this way, mostly thanks to the idiocy of a PM who has made it a point to undo centuries of Turkish statecraft; Turkey is now fairly diplomatically isolated with Shi’ite Iran and even Russia breathing down its neck as Syrian allies.
The French have already sent Turkey “a message” by indicating that if Turkey is attacked, NATO will be nowhere to be found and SHOULD the Turks be attacked, this would provide the perfect cover for NATO to destroy Iran’s growing nuclear capability; it’s 1938 all over again with the French leading the charge for “Peace In Our Time.”
This is all very bad news but hey, it didn’t involve Israel killing an Arab so ultimately, who really does care? I mean, other than the readership of “The Jewish Press.”