Former secretary general of the Arab League and Egyptian presidential hopeful Amr Moussa urged the league on Sunday to consider sending Arab military forces to Syria, which has been rocked by anti-regime protests since March demanding the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad. The uprising has been brutally suppressed by the regime.
On Saturday, the Emir of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani, said he supports sending Arab military forces to Syria in order to bring an end to the continuing bloodshed. This was the first proposal of its kind by an Arab leader. “For such a situation, to stop the killing … some troops should go to stop the killing,” the Emir told the American news program 60 Minutes.
Moussa told reporters on the sidelines of a Beirut conference on reform and democratic transition that the Qatari proposal for Arab military intervention in Syria is significant, urging the league hold discussions about the issue. He stressed that the Arab region is going through drastic changes, warning that attempts to thwart those changes will be unsuccessful.
Over 5000 Syrians have been killed by security forces, according to UN death counts. The toll continues to rise despite the presence of dozens of monitors sent by the Arab League in late December, who are meant to implement an initiative to stop the bloody crackdown.
Meanwhile, Nabil al-Araby, the league's secretary general, said the next Arab Summit, slated to take place in March in Baghdad, will be held on time, adding that the summit will discuss the Qatari proposal of sending Arab troops to Syria.
On the sidelines of a joint press conference with Bahrain's foreign minister Khaled Ibn Ahmed al-Khalifa, Araby ruled out a foreign military intervention in Syria, saying that the UN Security Council has been considering the Syrian file for two months.
