Arab League agrees sweeping sanctions on Syria

The Syrian economy is set to be severely crippled by the League's sanctions Arab foreign ministers agreed sweeping sanctions against Damascus to punish President Bashar Al-Assad's regime for failing to halt a deadly crackdown on protests, as the death toll in Syria kept on climbing.
As another 23 civilians were reported dead in Syria, the 22-member Arab League announced an immediate ban on transactions with the Syrian government and central bank and a freeze on Syrian government assets in Arab countries.
Further measures including a ban on Syrian officials visiting any Arab country and the suspension of flights are to be implemented at a date fixed at a meeting next week.
Syrian state television reacted with a terse statement saying the Arab League's action against a member state was "an unprecedented measure" as hundreds of people gathered in Damascus to protest against the measures.
Thousands of Syrians on Sunday flocked to the squares of Damascus, Tartous, Lattakia and Hasaka to condemn the decisions of the Arab League Ministerial Council on imposing the sanctions.
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who in a letter to the pan-Arab bloc ahead of the vote accused the organisation of seeking to "internationalise" the Syrian crisis, prepared to hold a news conference on Monday.
The sanctions, announced in Cairo by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, are the first time the organisation has imposed such harsh economic measures against another country in the region.
"We hope that (the Syrian regime) puts an end to the massacres so that this resolution (authorising sanctions) is not put into force," said Sheikh Hamad, but he added that "the signs are not positive."
He also called for "an end to the massacres, the freeing of prisoners and the withdrawal of tanks" from Syrian cities.
The Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of Syrian activists, welcomed the move but warned that Damascus could get around the sanctions.
"Economic sanctions will have no impact on the Syrian regime unless there is a mechanism by which the implementation of sanctions can be strictly monitored and leave no opportunity for their circumvention," it said.
 The LCC noted in a statement that Iraq and Lebanon, neighbours who have close economic ties with Syria, had reservations about the sanctions.
"The sanctions leave open the opportunity for the regime to commit fraud and strip the sanctions of any substance, thereby prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people at the hands of an oppressive and brutal regime, and due to the sanctions' longer term impacts," it said.
The activists also urged the Arab League "to exert all necessary pressure and make every possible effort in response to the Syrian people's choice to topple the regime."
Nineteen Arab League members voted for the sanctions, but Iraq abstained and said it would refuse to implement them, while Lebanon "disassociated itself," Sheikh Hamad said. Syria is a suspended member.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, whose country thrives on trade with Syria, said ahead of Sunday's vote it was "not possible" to impose sanctions on Assad's regime.
According to Syria's bureau of statistics, 52.5 percent of all Syrian exports went to Arab countries in 2009 while 16.4 percent of imports came from Arab nations.
Iraq tops the list of importers, buying up 31.4 percent of outgoing Syrian goods.
Nasser Judeh, the foreign minister of Jordan whose imports travel by land across Syrian territory, also expressed concerns after the vote which his country endorsed.
"The impact of such decisions on Arab countries, particularly neighbours (of Syria)... must be taken into consideration," he said.
Lebanon has sent mixed messages about whether it would participate in sanctions. Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said last week Beirut would not take steps against Syria, but Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday his government would implement Arab League decisions, whatever its misgivings.
Several Lebanese banks have units in Syria, set up in recent years after Assad lifted restrictions on private banking operations. Most of the larger Syrian private banks have already been hit by sharp falls in customer deposits.
But the impact of the Arab sanctions is expected to be crippling for Syria itself which already faces a raft of EU and US measures even without Iraq or Lebanon's participation.
In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague praised the Arab League's move.
"Today's unprecedented decision to impose sanctions demonstrates that the regime's repeated failure to deliver on its promises will not be ignored and that those who perpetrate these appalling abuses will be held to account," he said in a statement..
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who attended the Arab League meeting, said: "Nobody can expect Turkey and the Arab League to remain silent on the killings of civilians and the Syrian regime's increasing oppression of innocent people."
Earlier this month Ankara hit its former ally Syria with energy sanctions and threatened more moves after Damascus defied an Arab League ultimatum to accept observers and end its lethal crackdown.
On Sunday the violence showed no sign of abating.
Activists said at least 23 civilians were killed, including seven in the flashpoint region of Homs that has been under siege for several weeks.
The UN estimated earlier this month that more than 3,500 people have been killed in the repression since protesters first took to the streets in mid-March.
An analyst said the sanctions will not only cripple the regime but could persuade business figures to abandon it.
"The sanctions further isolate everyone at the top," said Angus Blair from the Egypt-based investment bank Beltone Financial.
"It makes it very difficult for figures in Syria to be seen to be close to the regime," he said.
The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to release a new report on the violations committed by the Syrian regime amid reports of the possibility of referring the Syrian file to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the U.N. Security Council.
Arab foreign ministers, meanwhile, will follow up on the political aspects of the Arab League measures against Syria, with the Turkish presence, Al Arabiya reported on Monday.
The Arab League has approved unprecedented economic sanctions against Syria, isolating President Bashar al-Assad’s government over its eight-month crackdown on protests against his rule.
Britain said the sanctions could help enlist support at the United Nations for action against Damascus, which launched the crackdown against protesters calling for Assad’s removal soon after the uprising began eight months ago.
Ammar Qurabi, Chairman of the Syrian Conference for Change, told Al Arabiya that the Arab foreign ministers will discuss the political aspects on the Arab initiative and “most probably the Syrian file will be referred to the Security Council because the Arab states have failed to protect the Syrian civilians.”
In a special interview with Al Arabiya, Qurabi said that all Syrians are impatiently awaiting the U.N. Human Rights Council’s report, “which would probably recommend the referral of Assad and other Syrian officials to the ICC.”
Qurabi said that Monday’s report would also recommend referring Syria to the Security Council.
The United Nations says Syrian security forces have killed more than 3,500 people in the crackdown.
Security forces had killed at least 40 civilians on Sunday, Al Arabiya reported citing Syrian activists.
Many of the victims were in a town north of Damascus that has become a focus for the protests, Anti-Assad activists said. Others were killed in raids on towns in the province of Homs, according to Reuters.
“The indications are not positive ... the sanctions are still economic but if there is no movement on the part of Syria then we have a responsibility as human beings to stop the killings,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, told reporters.
“Power is not worth anything when a ruler kills his people,” he said after 19 of the League’s 22 members approved the decision to immediately enforce the sanctions at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday.
A Western diplomat said Assad could for now count on support from China and Russia at the United Nations but that the two countries may change position if Assad heightens the crackdown and if the Arab League campaigns for international intervention.
China and Russia have oil concessions in Syria. Moscow also has a mostly disused naval base in the country and military advisers to the Syrian army.
“The sanctions are likely to lose Assad support among those in Syria who have been waiting to see whether he will be able to turn things around, such as merchants who could now see their businesses take more hits,” the diplomat said.
The president of the Union of Arab Banks, a division of the Arab League, said on Sunday the sanctions would hit Syria’s central bank, which has “big deposits” in the region, especially the Gulf.
Arab ministers were spurred to action by worsening violence in Syria and by the Assad government’s failure to meet a deadline to let in Arab monitors and take other steps to end its crackdown on the uprising.
Syrian official media quoted an undated letter by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem to the Arab League as saying Damascus viewed the plan for monitors as interference in its affairs.
The League has been galvanized by pressure from Gulf Arabs, already angry at Syria’s alliance with regional rival Iran, by the political changes brought about by Arab uprisings, and by the scale of the Syrian bloodshed.
Along with peaceful protests, some of Assad’s opponents are fighting back. Army defectors have loosely grouped under the Syrian Free Army and more insurgent attacks on loyalist troops have been reported in the last several weeks.
Officials blame the violence on armed groups targeting civilians and its security forces and say 1,100 security force members have been killed.