Syrians show mixed reactions towards reservation over AL decision

Syria's reservation over the Arab League (AL) foreign ministers' decision to give it an ultimatum to end its crackdown on protesters was criticized by some opposition figures inside Syria as "wrong reaction," while other local academics dismissed the AL decision as an encroachment upon Syria' s sovereignty. The AL held on Sunday an emergency meeting upon the request of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), to discuss whether to suspend Syria's membership or not, in an attempt to step up pressure on the Syrian leadership to end its alleged crackdown on anti- government protesters which, according to a recent UN tally, has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people since mid-March. However, the GCC's attempt to suspend Syria's membership failed to win full support from the Arab world. The pan-Arab body decided to give Syria a 15-day deadline to stop its operations against anti-government protesters, and also decided to form a ministerial committee to participate in the Syrian national dialogue. Addressing the AL in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, Syria's envoy to the AL Youssef Ahmad announced his country's reservation on the AL resolution, saying that Syria is an independent and sovereign country led by a legitimate authority that is capable of running the country's affairs and protecting the security and safety of its citizens, and that any national dialogue can only be held in Syria with the participation of all social groups regardless of their affiliation. "The Syrian regime's reservation over the AL initiative is just a persistence on ignoring facts and a stubborn insistence on its ( leadership) solo act in the midst of the stormy crisis that overwhelmed the entire country," Abdul-Aziz Kheir, an official in charge of foreign relations in the opposition body, told Xinhua by phone. However, Qadri Jamil, member of the opposing Popular Front for Change and Liberation and a leader of Syrian Communist Party, told Xinhua that his front demands the halt of violence and to commence dialogues on the Syrian territory, stressing that the Syrian reservation came in response to the location of the dialogue and on the 15-day deadline. Jamil said that the Syrian opposition abroad is "not patriotic. " He also expressed rejection to having a dialogue with such opposition, in order not to tarnish the "reputation of the opposition of Syria." Imad Fawzi Shuaibi, a political analyst, questioned the timing of the AL meeting as "suspicious," saying that "it should be dealt with from the beginning (of the crisis)." "It's an attempt to encroach upon the sovereignty of Syria and a move to promoting for the opposing National Council announced in Istanbul recently, as well as promoting for Qatar as a head of the ministerial committee." Syria's official media chastised the AL decision. The al-Baath newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Batth party, said Monday that "some Gulf countries are promoting for covert sectarian agenda."