We are deluding ourselves, and the Syrian people, when our media repeats the expression “a delegation of Arab monitors” for this is nothing more than a delegation of Arab spectators, who have no initiative or capability whatsoever. Nothing can be expected from their visit to Syria, other than the al-Assad regime being granted more opportunities to kill the unarmed Syrian people.

Since the delegation of Arab spectators reached Syria, the number of Syrian people being killed at the hands of the al-Assad regime’s war machine has increased, whilst the suffering of the Syrian people is also on the rise; meanwhile the al-Assad regime’s lies are never-ending! The biggest such lie was the absurd scene of the Damascus bombings which the al-Assad regime sometimes blames on Al Qaeda, and at other times on the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Therefore, the delegation of Arab spectators – with all due respect to its members – has no value whatsoever; Homs is under siege and facing levels of suppression that the Israelis do not even practice against the Palestinians, or other Arabs. During the 2006 Lebanon war, for example, the world rallied to halt the Israeli military machine, and succeeded in doing so, within just a few short months. The world also rushed to stop the Israeli war machine in Gaza [December 2008], and also halted this in a short period of time. Whilst today, we see Bashar al-Assad’s forces running riot over the Syrian people, and this is a state of affairs that has lasted for approximately 10 months or more. This is not to mention the destruction of mosques and homes, and the killing of men, women, and children, in a manner that even the Israelis would balk at. After all of this, can we trust a delegation of Arab spectators, or even the Arab League itself? To put it bluntly, the answer is: no!

Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim stated that Syria is close to the end of the road, and he later said that the situation in Syria is moving towards internationalization, whilst before all this he told al-Assad that there is no room to prevaricate; however Qatar’s statements [on Syria] have been nothing more than empty words, that do not sate hunger or quench thirst. This is completely contrary to Qatar’s position on Libya, and even not comparable to Doha’s position on Yemen and Ali Abdullah Saleh. Indeed Qatar withdrew from the Gulf initiative [on Yemen] because of Saleh’s procrastination and delay, before he eventually signed the initiative in Saudi Arabia. Today we find the al-Assad regime procrastinating, delaying, lying, killing, and wreaking evil on the land, without Qatar taking any clear position. My aim here is not to score political points against Doha, particularly as Qatar is heading the Arab League committee that is dealing with Syria, whilst the Arab League has also failed to take any clear position on Syria. This, of course, does not include the game that has been played regarding the delegation of Arab spectators, who did not begin their visit to Syria with a tour of the city of Homs – which has suffered under the al-Assad region’s campaign of bombing and bombardment – nor any other Syrian region where the al-Assad regime’s killing machine has run riot; rather the Arab League delegation of spectators began their trip in Damascus, visiting the sites of the absurd bombings there.

Therefore, if the Arabs do not move to transfer the Syrian file to the UN Security Council, or announce their failure, and the failure of the Arab League initiative – that was never going to succeed in any case –they are nothing more than an accomplice in the suffering of the unarmed Syrian people, and a reason for the deteriorating situation in the country. One who does not speak out against evil is nothing more than an accomplice to it! Therefore, the Arab League, and its delegation in Syria, are nothing more than spectators, and a means for the extension of the Syrian crisis; as they are granting the al-Assad regime one opportunity after another to kill the unarmed Syrian people.