Reuters reports: An Arab League advisory body called on Sunday for the immediate withdrawal of the organization’s monitoring mission in Syria, saying it was allowing Damascus to cover up continued violence and abuses.
The Arab League has sent a small team to Syria to check whether President Bashar al-Assad is keeping his promise to end a crackdown on a nine-month uprising against his rule.
The observer mission has already stirred controversy. Rights groups have reported continued deaths in clashes and tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to show the observers the extent of their anger.
The Sudanese head of the mission also infuriated some observers by suggesting he was reassured by first impressions of Homs, one of the main centers of unrest.
The Arab Parliament, an 88-member advisory committee of delegates from each of the League’s member states, on Sunday said the violence was continuing to claim many victims.
“For this to happen in the presence of Arab monitors has roused the anger of Arab people and negates the purpose of sending a fact-finding mission,” the organization’s chairman Ali al-Salem al-Dekbas said.
“This is giving the Syrian regime an Arab cover for continuing its inhumane actions under the eyes and ears of the Arab League,” he said.
The Arab Parliament was the first body to recommend freezing Syria’s membership in the organization in response to Assad’s crackdown.
An Arab League official, commenting on the parliament’s statement, told Reuters it was too early to judge the mission’s success, saying it was scheduled to remain in Syria for a month and that more monitors were on their way.
The Arab League sends in the team in order to provide validation of the rebels. When the team of observers do not live up to their expectations, the Arab League then calls for the withdrawal of the team. The drive to destroy Bashar al-Asad just takes another turn. The build up of sensationalist coverage has the purpose of providing an excuse for foreign intervention similar to that of Libya. Already at hand, Turkey has the army to move into Syria to provide “security zone” for Asad’s opponents. Should the Syrian army resist this invasion, it would likely bring in NATO to provide air coverage. The whole Western “outrage and concern” over the deaths of Syrian civilians really come down to seeking a justification to destroy an ally of Iran’s. With Syria fractured like Iraq, Iran’s day may not be too far away.