Syria Sanctions

Written by Will Zike, Staff Writer

As the violence in Syria escalates, the Arab League has taken action against the countries leadership in an effort to stop the fighting.

Bloodshed has continued to plague the country as citizens rebel against the oppressive regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Citizens are demanding for al-Assad to step down, and for the ruling Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party to allow other political parties for equal rights for Kurdish people and for political freedoms such as freedom of press, speech, and assembly.

What started out as peaceful protests by citizens over 8 months, turned into mayhem when security forces fired upon the protestors. Recently protestors have begun fighting back, leading some to believe that a full blown civil war is not far off.

The government has denied any wrong doing in the uprising. It claims that armed gangs are carrying out a foreign conspiracy.

Despite these claims many Syrian citizens and deserted army officials are accusing the government.

With North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces recently ending their seven-month campaign in Libya, the alliance announced in early November that it would not be assisting either side.

This leaves the Arab League responsible for attempting to stop the violence.

In an effort to halt the fighting, the Arab League suspended Syria as the uprising in the country continues. As citizens and the military continue to clash, the Arab League voted on November 12 to suspend Syria if the violence did not stop by November 16.

This day passed without signs of the military ceasing fire. As a result, Syria was suspended.
As the aggression continued in spite of suspension, the Arab League imposed stricter sanctions upon Syria. The group has begun cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank and halting Arab government funding for projects in Syria, in hopes that it will motivate the government to stop its fighting.

The Syrian government has condemned the actions taken. The government in the capitol of Damascus has said the moves are a betrayal of Arab unity.

Al-Thawra, the state run newspaper, has slammed the new sanctions as being, “unprecedented and contradicts the rules of Arab cooperation”.

Though it appears to be unlikely, people are questioning whether or not these sanctions will have an effect upon the current situation.

At this point the demonstrators are firmly entrenched in their viewpoints and even if the Arab League’s sanctions successfully stop the violence of the government, it is very possible that the protestors continue to pursue their requests.

As more time passes it becomes less and less probable that the violence can be halted before a civil war breaks out.

The death toll is estimated at over 4,000 currently and the violence is only increasing. It appears that the Middle East has another large-scale rebellion.