Arab League

Syria’s Bashar Assad says he won’t step aside

by News Sources 01.10.2012

Atlantic Wire: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad delivered a defiant televised address on Tuesday saying that he will not step down and will not institute new democratic reforms, insisting that unrest in his country is the work of a foreign conspiracy. According to Al-Jazeera’s translations, Assad said that there are no real revolutionaries in his country, [...]

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Syria’s protesters are on their own

by News Sources 01.09.2012

Brian Whitaker writes: The Arab League’s much-heralded meeting to review the “progress” of its monitoring operation in Syria came and went on Sunday with barely a whimper. A few more monitors will be sent but unless Syria agrees to an extension, which seems unlikely, the mission will end on 19 January with the presentation of [...]

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Inside Syria: Has the Arab League failed in Syria?

by News Sources 01.08.2012

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In Syria, another Friday, another Damascus bomb

by News Sources 01.06.2012

The Daily Telegraph reports: At least 25 people were reportedly killed or wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up in central Damascus on Friday, the second such attack on the Syrian capital in a fortnight. The bomb was detonated at a set of traffic lights in the historic district of al-Midan, just south of [...]

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Inside Syria – Is the Arab League mission doomed to fail?

by News Sources 01.01.2012

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Arab body says monitors should quit Syria promptly

by News Sources 01.01.2012

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 [...]

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Activists hold mass rallies across Syria

by News Sources 12.30.2011

The New York Times reports: Tens, and possibly hundreds, of thousands of people defied a continuing government crackdown to fill the streets of several Syrian cities on Friday, intent on showing visiting monitors from the Arab League the extent of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. As thousands marched in Idlib, Homs, Hama and in the [...]

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Arab League approves Syria sanctions

by News Sources 11.28.2011

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Armed groups on the rise is Syria as fear of civil war grows

by News Sources 11.18.2011

The New York Times reports: For the second day in a row, deserters from the Syrian Army carried out attacks on symbols of the Assad government’s centers of power, targeting the youth offices of the ruling Baath Party on Thursday after firing rocket-propelled grenades on a military intelligence base on Wednesday, activists said. The attacks, [...]

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Syria: Arab League suspension threat illegal

by News Sources 11.14.2011

Al Jazeera reports: Syria’s foreign minister has condemned the Arab League’s threat to suspend the country over its crackdown on protests, saying the move would be “illegal” and a “dangerous step”. “The suspension of the Arab League membership is illegal,” Walid al-Muallem told a press conference in Damascus on Monday. Al-Muallem also criticised the Cairo-based [...]

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Inside Story – Can the Arab League end bloodshed in Syria?

by News Sources 11.14.2011

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Arab League votes to suspend Syria over crackdown

by News Sources 11.12.2011

The New York Times reports: The Arab League moved to suspend Syria’s membership on Saturday, accusing the government of President Bashar al-Assad of defying an agreement to stop the violent repression of demonstrators, and it threatened economic and political sanctions if he did not comply. In acting against Syria, a core member of the Arab [...]

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Arab League parliament urges Syria suspension

by News Sources 09.20.2011

Al Jazeera reports: An Arab parliamentary body has called for the suspension of the membership of Syria and Yemen in the Arab League in a bid to put pressure on the two countries to heed popular demands for reforms. The call was put out on Tuesday following a committee meeting of the Arab Parliament, a [...]

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Top ten ways that Libya 2011 is not Iraq 2003

by News Sources 03.23.2011

Juan Cole writes: Here are the differences between George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the current United Nations action in Libya: 1. The action in Libya was authorized by the United Nations Security Council. That in Iraq was not. By the UN Charter, military action after 1945 should either come as self-defense [...]

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The fight for Libya

by News Sources 03.22.2011

The Guardian reports: Britain, France and the United States have agreed that Nato will take over the military command of the no-fly zone over Libya in a move which represents a setback for Nicolas Sarkozy, who had hoped to diminish the role of the alliance. Barack Obama agreed in separate phone calls with Sarkozy and [...]

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Arabs say Gaddafi must go, wary of Western action

by News Sources 03.20.2011

Reuters reports: Muammar Gaddafi’s appeal for Arab solidarity in the face of foreign air strikes fell on deaf ears across the Middle East on Sunday, but support for his opponents was mixed with deep suspicion of Western motives. Western forces have unleashed their biggest military attack in the Arab world since the 2003 U.S. invasion [...]

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Arab League calls on UN to enforce no-fly zone over Libya

by News Sources 03.12.2011

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Arab League on Saturday called on the United Nations Security Council to enforce a “no-fly zone” over Libyan airspace, marking a decisive diplomatic victory for rebel forces opposed to Moammar Gadhafi, the Libyan ruler. The announcement will bolster calls by some European leaders to intervene in the violent confrontation [...]

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The fight for Libya

by News Sources 03.08.2011

Chris McGreal reports from Ras Lanuf, where thousands of young volunteers now provide the bulk of the rebel force that has swept along Libya’s eastern coast: Gaddafi’s air force has bombed Ras Lanuf repeatedly, cutting off the town’s water supply on Tuesday and destroying housing. On Monday the victims included a civilian, Mohammed Ashtal, who [...]

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Is a no-fly zone what Libyans want?

by Paul Woodward 03.07.2011

Jerry Haber observes: [L]iberal interventionists are highly selective in their moral outrage, and … suffer from a “Saving-Private-Ryan” complex – they will intervene to save people with whom they identify, people on their side. But if the civilians happen to be on other the side of their tribal divide, they become silent. Indeed. None of [...]

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The fountainhead of global strife

by Paul Woodward 09.02.2010

If the Obama administration had been as visionary as Obamamania promised it might be, Chas Freeman might not have merely been briefly offered the post of chair of the National Intelligence Council; he could have become a fine Secretary of State. Instead, the Israel lobby made sure he gained no position at all, but by [...]

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Turkey is the new Palestinian champion

by Paul Woodward 06.13.2010

Noting a historic shift in the regional balance of power, Alastair Crooke says: The cause of the Palestinians is gradually passing out of the hands of Mubarak and King Abdullah bin Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. It is the leaders of Iran and Turkey, together with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who recognize the [...]

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Listen to the Arabs

by Paul Woodward 03.27.2010

Parag Khanna writes: If Arabs are supposed to be lining up with the United States and Israel to contain the hegemonic ambitions of Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then why did Syria host a “war council” of Iran and Hezbollah in Damascus last month? And why is Qatar exploring gas fields jointly with Iran? The fact is [...]

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Regional impact of the war on Gaza

by Paul Woodward 01.01.2009

Gaza attack strengthens Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood By Joseph Mayton, The Media Line, January 1, 2008 Rarely do Egyptian demonstrations see thousands of people take to the streets. But, put together anti-Israeli and anti-government sentiments spearheaded by the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, and the result is the country’s largest street action since the first anniversary of the [...]

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