Arab League votes to suspend Syria over killings of anti-government protesters

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Damascus, Nov 13: The Arab League has voted to suspended Syria until President Bashar al-Assad does not end a bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters.

The Arab League threatened to impose political and economic sanctions of its own if the bloodshed continued, and urged 22 member states to withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus.

According to the Telegraph, the resolution was passed unequivocally, with 18 states voting in favour.

Nabil Elraby, the Arab League’s secretary general, made it clear that there would be no call for military action in Syria.

Not surprisingly, Syria’s representative to the Arab League, Youssef Ahmed, sought to present the bloc as lackeys of Washington, claiming that the decision ‘served a Western and American agenda’ and was taken to fulfil orders from the White House.

According to the paper, the Arab League’s largely unexpected move will crucially also heighten pressure on Russia and China to drop their objections to a United Nations Security Council resolution, pushed by Western powers, that would lead to sanctions against Syria.

Both Moscow and Beijing reluctantly backed a resolution in the spring authorising military intervention in Libya after the Arab League suspended Muammar Gaddafi’s government and called on the UN to impose a no-fly zone over the country. (ANI)