News Introduction for Saturday 12-11-2011

According to the latest news from Syria and Bahrain one could come to a clear conclusion: The region is shaking. Surprising news came from Bahrain today; the Kingdom announced that it broke up a cell planning to target the Saudi Embassy, King Fahd Causeway and Interior Ministry Building.

Four Bahraini suspects were arrested and revealed that they illegally entered Qatar across the Saudi border and possessed several documents and a laptop containing the blueprints of vital buildings in Bahrain.  

The Bahraini government issued a statement without mentioning the names or sects of the accused persons, not even hinting at a possible foreign force trying to destabilize the Kingdom. Bahrain has been living in a constant Shiite uprising for the last 9 months, which led to a direct Saudi intervention under the Gulf Cooperation Council flag amid  high political tension between the Council and Iran accused of funding Shiite terrorist groups.

An electrifying turning point prevailed on the Syrian scene today. The Arab League suspends the participation of the Syrian delegations in its meetings until the Arab initiative is implemented and calls on member states to withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus. The League invited the Syrian opposition to meet at its headquarters to discuss a unified vision for the coming political changes.

And in what seemed an indirect recognition of the Syrian National Council as the only representative of the Syrian people the Arab League statement mentioned that the League will have to discuss this step in further details during the upcoming meetings. Damascus responded firmly describing the Arab League steps as being illegal and violating the League`s charter, adding that any action to suspend Syria’s membership requires the consent of all members and not the majority. 

All these events raise an endless set of questions: Will the Arab states implement the League’s decision and recall their ambassadors to Syria especially considering the statement mentioned that it is a sovereign decision which each state should review? What are the economic and political sanctions that the Arab states are looking forward to imposing on the Syrian regime?

Could the calls from Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Ben Jassem for international protection of civilians be translated as a green light for a foreign military intervention against Syria and repeat the same scenario in Libya after suspending Gaddafi’s membership in the Arab League? 

Why did we not see a Turkish touch in all these steps, especially after they promised the Syrian opposition a buffer zone to operate within, both politically and militarily? How will the Arab league unite the dismantled Syrian opposition divided between the SNC and other oppositions abroad in Paris, Brussels and other local opposition groups?

President Obama and the European Union raced to support the Arab League, while Yemen and Lebanon rejected the statement issued this afternoon, raising political tension on the domestic scene. In this regard, a delegation from March 14 forces visited Wadi Khaled today to express their support to the Syrian refugees fleeing Assad’s regime, blaming the Lebanese government for their lack of support.