Arab League's Silence On Syria

NOW Lebanon reports:

Known for his stanch support for freedom of expression in Lebanon, Tarek Mitri has served in a number of key positions in the Lebanese government since 2005.  A former academic, Mitri headed the Environment and Culture ministries prior to his current role as Information minister. He has also represented Lebanon at the Arab League on several occasions.

As the Syrian government escalates its crackdown on mostly peaceful anti-regime protesters with the first airstrike since the uprising began in the country in mid-March, Mitri spoke to NOW Lebanon about Lebanon’s and the Arab world’s reactions to the revolution next door.

Why is the Arab League being so quiet with regard to the situation in Syria?

Tarek Mitri: Most of the analysts who refer to silence refer explicitly or not to Libya, on which the Arab League took a stance, when it made the Security Council resolution possible, which the international community needed in order to move forward.

The reason the international community needed [the support] was that they were contemplating an intervention, and they feared it would be perceived as Western interference in Arab affairs. That is the context of Libya – the comparison doesn’t fall with Syria.

As far as we see, the international community is not contemplating any form of intervention in Syria, and the Arabs are divided. You know the Arab League makes its decisions by consensus, and there are a number of Arab regimes that do not necessarily support Syria, but will not go as far as condemning it either. So with this constellation of positions, no one expects the Arab League to intervene.