Tens of thousands of pro--regime demonstrators gathered in a Damascus square yesterday to protest the Arab League’s vote to suspend Syria over its bloody crackdown on the country’s eight-month-old uprising.
Saturday’s Arab League decision was a sharp rebuke to a regime that prides itself as a bastion of Arab nationalism, but it was unlikely to immediately end a wave of violence that the UN estimates has killed more than 3,500 people since the middle of March.
Angry pro-regime protesters on Saturday night broke into the Saudi and Qatari embassies to protest the vote by the 22--member Arab League, which is likely to stoke further anger in the two Arabian Peninsula states against the regime in Damascus.
Arab disapproval in itself might not seriously damage Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power, but if Syria antagonizes Persian Gulf states much further, it risks having them build up the Syrian opposition into a unified body that can win international recognition, as happened during Libya’s civil war earlier this year.
Syrian security forces had confronted Saturday’s protesters with batons and tear gas, but were unable to stop a group from breaking into the Qatari embassy and bringing down the Qatari flag, replacing it with the Syrian flag. Others entered Saudi Arabia’s embassy compound, broke windows and ransacked some areas, the kingdom’s media reported.
The Saudi embassy was operating yesterday, an operator said. The kingdom strongly condemned the attack in a statement by the foreign ministry and said it held the Syrian authorities responsible for protecting its interests.
Yesterday, thousands of people carrying red, black and white Syrian flags and posters of al-Assad gathered in a Damascus square, pledging support for the president. The Syrian leader blames the violence on extremists working on a foreign agenda seeking to destabilize the country.
Saturday’s Arab League vote came after Damascus failed to carry out a Nov. 2 peace deal, brokered by the league, that called on Syria to halt the attacks and pull tanks out of cities.
The vote was a strong message from Syria’s Arab neighbors and showed growing impatience with Damascus.
Arab League diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters, said that if Syria does not adhere to its demands, the organization will work to unify the disparate Syrian opposition into a coalition similar to that of Libya’s National Transitional Council.
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