AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands – The Arab League has given Syria’s seat to the opposition, and condoned arms supplies to the rebels, saying the weapons gave the opponents better odds against the regime, and did not mean that a peaceful solution was being ruled out.
In the opening speech of the Arab Summit in Doha, the Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani invited the president of the Syrian National Coalition, Moaz al-Khatib, to take Syria’s seat.
The Syrian crisis was on the top of the Arab League’s agenda, in which the 22 members affirmed the importance of a political solution in Syria, where an estimated 70,000 people have died in an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime that has continued for more than two years.
An Arab League statement emphasized the right of each country to supply weapons to the Syrian opposition, considered the Syrian National Coalition the only legitimate representative of the Syrian people, and called for a conference to discuss rebuilding the damaged areas in Syrian in the frame of the United Nations.
Nabil al-Arabi, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, said that arming the Syrian opposition does not necessarily imply eliminating a peaceful solution. “Supplying weapons to the opposition forces is aimed to create a balancing state with the forces of the regime, and it guarantees the Syrian people the right to self-defence,” he said.
"I convey to you the greetings of the orphans, widows, the wounded, the detained and the homeless," Khatib said in his opening speech, addressing the summit by giving a bleak summary of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. “Tens of thousands are killed, infrastructure is destroyed, and 25 percent of the country's population is displaced,” Khatib said.
He also pointed out that the Assad regime has killed thousands of Kurds, Christians and other minorities, accusing the government of carrying out “state terrorism.”
"Is it acceptable to tolerate state terrorism for two years?" he asked, adding that “thousands” of Russian and Iranian fighters are aiding Assad's regime.
Khatib insisted that Syria’s future should not be determined by foreign powers. “They ask who will rule Syria? The people of Syria will decide, not any other state in this world,” he argued.
Iraq, Lebanon and Algeria had opposed the decision to give the opposition the vacant Syrian seat, standing apart from other members, who welcomed Khatib.
Besides demanding additional support from both Arab and international powers, Khatib thanked the governments of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and others who supported the Syrian people during the ongoing crisis.
According to observers, mentioning the support of the Kurdistan Region to the Syrian people signifies a heavy blow to the Iraqi central government, whose envoy was present at the summit.
“Mentioning the role of the Kurdistan Region among others in backing the Syrians is considered a slap to (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri) Maliki’s government, which insisted on supporting the Assad regime,” said Massoud Akko, a Kurdish member of the Syrian Journalists Association.
He told Rudaw on the phone from Cairo that Khatib sincerely thanked the people and government of Iraqi Kurdistan for providing sanctuary and aid to Syrians fleeing the violence in their own country.
“The Maliki government should understand it as a ‘punitive message’ to the negative position it took in terms of the current uprising in Syria,” he said.
Khatib is deemed a moderate defender against the growing influence of forces linked to al-Qaeda who are fighting against the Assad regime in Syria.
“We demand the Syrian seat at the United Nations and at other international organizations,” Khatib said. He also called on the United States to use Patriot missiles to protect rebel-held regions from Assad’s airpower.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government accused the Arab League of contradicting all of its pledges and charters to preserve common Arab security. It said that the act of giving Syria’s seat to the opposition was a “shameful decision.” According to the official al-Thawra newspaper, the league’s decision is “clearly legitimizing terrorism in Syria.”
Syria’s Arab League membership was suspended by the 22-member league after Assad’s forces launched a brutal crackdown against the uprising.
