The Arab League is scheduled to hold a meeting of foreign ministers on Saturday; the aim of which is to discuss the Syrian crisis and the Libyan file, following the collapse of the Muammar Gaddafi regime. The Arab League is also expected to unfreeze Libya’s membership, particularly as the country now requires the support of all Arab states, which contrasts with Algeria’s behavior towards the Libyan National Transitional Council.

As for the state of affairs in Syria – which is the crux of the matter – if you can believe the information that a reliable Arab source told me, then it would be better if the Arab League did not meet and the Arab Foreign Ministers did not discuss the Syrian file. I have been informed that the Arab League is attempting to put out a weak statement that satisfies all parties…a statement that represents a number of different views. According to my source, the Qataris have also succeeded in convincing the Syrian representative [to the Arab League] to attend the meeting; under the proviso that the Arabs understand that Syria is no Libya! If this is true, then the Arabs are committing a grave mistake against the unarmed people of Syria, and against the security of the region as a whole. The Syrian regime has committed the same sort of crimes against its citizens as Gaddafi did against the people of Libya. Rather, the question that must be asked here is: what Arab leader will today dare to shake the hand of the al-Assad regime, whose hands are drenched in the blood of the Syrian people?

Someone might say that this is something that the Arabs have already done during the reign of al-Assad senior, shaking his hand despite the Hama massacre, and they did the same with Saddam Hussein despite his massacring of the Kurds. All of this is true, but times change, as do circumstances, and the public today is far more informed about what is going on around it. In addition to this – and this is most important of all – the Arab region has witnessed the fall of three Arab leaders in six months, whilst two Arab leaders are on the way to meeting the same fate, namely the Yemeni and Syrian presidents. Therefore it is absurd for Arab states today to place their own security in danger in an attempt to polish the image of the al-Assad regime, especially as it is clear to the Syrians and Arabs that the only state defending al-Assad – despite all the horrors committed by the Damascus regime – is Iran. Indeed even the Iranian regime today has begun a public relations campaign to improve its relation with the Syrian people via Hezbollah affiliated al-Manar TV. In an interview with al-Manar TV regarding the situation in Syria, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the Syrian people have a right to demand “freedom, justice, and free elections.”

Therefore, it is only right for any statement issued by the Arab League’s ministerial meeting towards Syria to be no less forceful than the UN Security Council statement on Syria, the Human Rights Council statement on the situation in Syria, and the historic address issued by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz towards Syria. In the event that the Arab League statement is less forceful than the three statements mentioned above then this would mean that the Arab League – which we hoped would withdraw Arab ambassadors from Syria and freeze its Arab League membership – has instead come out to try and polish the blood-stained image of the al-Assad regime which is no different in any way, shape, or form than the Gaddafi or Saddam Hussein. Such a statement would itself constitute a crime against the people of Syria!