Arab League imposes sweeping sanctions on Syria

THE ARAB League yesterday imposed far-reaching sanctions on Syria after Damascus refused to permit monitors to enter the country and oversee implementation of an Arab plan designed to defuse the country’s eight-month crisis.

The league, which has frozen Syria’s membership, called for suspension of flights to and from Syria, a halt to commercial dealings with the government, a freeze on Syria’s assets and an end to co-operation with its central bank. Nineteen of the league’s 22 members approved the package.

Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Thani bin Jassim al-Thani said the sanctions were designed to avoid inflicting "sufferings on the Syrian people . . . directly or indirectly". However, Al-Thawra,the stateowned daily, accused the league of imposing "economic and commercial sanctions targeting the Syrian people". The paper observed that the package of measures is "unprecedented and destroys Arab solidarity". The sanctions are designed to step up external pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to end the crackdown on protests, withdraw troops and tanks from urban areas and release prisoners before engaging in dialogue with the opposition.

Military force continues to be used against peaceful protesters and armed elements involved in a revolt which, opposition activists say, has taken more than 3,500 lives. The regime says that 1,100 soldiers and security officers have died.

Thousands have been wounded and detained. The United States and European Union have already imposed an extensive range of sanctions on Syria, which have had a negative impact on the economy.

Syria’s rulers are unlikely to capitulate. In recent weeks Syrian troops and state installations have come under attack from units of defecting soldiers belonging to the self-styled “Free Syrian Army”, which the government says receives foreign finance and arms. The latest clashes between troops and deserters took place in the central city of Homs, the current flashpoint in the struggle for power in Syria. Rights activists reported eight civilians killed. So far, the army has remained loyal to the regime, which continues to exercise control over Damascus and Aleppo, the country’s main cities.

Syria’s neighbours, Lebanon and Iraq, have expressed reservations over sanctions. Lebanon depends on Syrian overland trade routes, while Iraq fears destabilisation if sectarian warfare begins in Syria. Algeria also voted against the decision.

It was ironic that as league ministers debated sanctions on Syria, Egyptian and Bahraini opposition groups seeking anti-regime action by the organisation have joined Syrian protesters in an encampment outside the gates of Arab League headquarters on the edge of Cairo’s Tahrir Square.