THE DECISION by the 27-member Arab League to suspend Syria from membership signals a dramatic new diplomatic assertiveness for an organisation that has not been known for taking bold stands. And the decision is particularly humiliating to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad - his country has long seen itself as the champion of the pan-Arabism for which the league itself is an important symbol.
Apparently energised by the Arab Spring, the Cairo-based league, not a few of whose members still find democracy a difficult concept, has surprised many by taking its lead from the Qataris, currently in the organisation's chair and the region's most vigorous supporters of the popular uprisings. Syria will be barred from the group's meetings until it withdraws tanks from cities, releases detained protesters and starts supervised talks with the opposition. Damascus has demanded a full summit to appeal the decision.
The suspension, to be supplemented by new, though unspecified, sanctions and moves to recognise the opposition, follows the failure of Damascus to adhere to the terms of a peace deal agreed with the league two weeks ago. Diplomatic pressure will also be escalated through the UN, although, contrary to much media speculation, military action like that in Libya is not on anyone's agenda. The UN's Human Rights Council is also set to report on the violence inside the country at the end of the month, further increasing Damascus's isolation. The UN has put the opposition death toll in the eight-month uprising at 3,500.
The league's suspension decision was almost certainly designed to ease the way diplomatically for Russia and China to back an escalation of UN sanctions. The two countries blocked an October 4th resolution that threatened punitive measures. But Russia, a major supplier of arms to Syria, yesterday denounced the move and berated the opposition for jeopardising the country's stability. He cynically accused western countries of sabotaging the Arab League proposal to end the violence in Syria by encouraging the opposition to reject dialogue.
Yesterday the EU stepped up its own sanctions as Jordan's King Abdullah called on Assad to quit. Neighbour Turkey stepped up its own war of words against the regime. In the latest violence, security police shot dead activist Amin Abdo al-Ghothani in front of his nine-year-old son at a roadblock outside Inkhil. The message from inside and outside Syria is the same: Assad must go.