Arab League Pushes for UN Invasion of Syria

Call for Attack 'Symbolic,' According to Analysts

With their monitors withdrawn from the nation and their last UN Security Council resolution in shambles, the Arab League has voted today to push for a full scale United Nations invasion of the troubled nation of Syria.

Saying the move would “put additional pressure” on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the league says it wants to create a “joint” force of Arab League and United Nations “peacekeepers” as well as backing the various rebel factions.

Exactly what the proposal would accomplish is unclear, as the Arab League could not even pass a resolution that explicitly rejected military intervention through the UN Security Council. Analysts say the call for an attack is “symbolic.”

But symbolic of what, it isn’t clear. Syria’s government of course has rejected this “plan” and there is no chance either Russia or China is going to allow the UN to agree to it either. The net effect, then, is to further alienate Syria from the Arab League.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.