It was another bloody Friday for Syria today, with at least 30 civilians and 26 soldiers reported killed in violence nationwide, bringing the toll since the Arab League pact was announced at the beginning of the month to over 300.
The Arab League appears to be getting more pro-active about it too, with Saturday’s emergency meeting leading many to believe that the league will suspend Syria’s membership after they failed to follow through on the deal.
Syria’s ambassador to the Arab League told state media that the regime “welcomed” the Arab League efforts to end violence in the nation and were planning to cooperate fully. The cooperation, however, appears to stop short of actually doing anything mandated by the pact, like withdrawing its tanks from cities and releasing some 15,000 political prisoners captured since February.
Whether the league will actually be able to follow through with a suspension depends largely on how its fractured membership falls on the issue. The Saudi government and its allies appear keen to suspend Syria not so much for the crackdown but because Syria is allied with Iran. On the other hand the Yemeni government, which is launching its own bloody crackdown, is seen largely sympathetic to the Assad regime.
