05 Jan 2012 By Tariq Alhomayed There is confusing and disturbing information
relating to the Arab League, its thought process, its
dealings with the Syrian crisis, and likewise how it
perceives the Syrian opposition. I have obtained this
information from several high-level, informed and
reputable sources. For the purpose of this article I
will reveal such information in an effort to seek the
truth, without judgments, so we can give the Arab
League the benefit of the doubt, and allow it to
explain its position. Firstly, a senior official in the Arab League told
one of my sources, during his explanation of the
situation in Syria and how to deal with it that in
Syria there are only three thousand activists who are
orchestrating the demonstrations there. The Bashar al-Assad
regime is looking for them, and when it finds them, it
will be able to eliminate the threat. The Arab League
official believes that this will then put a stop to
everything in Syria, and indeed he expects the al-Assad
regime to be able to put a stop to everything by the
end of February! This is not all of course, as the same Arab League
official also doubted the seriousness of the Syrian
opposition, and questioned its sources of funding. He
said that the opposition has "a lot of money…and I
wish I knew where it was from!" Also, some of those in the Arab League are
advocates of the idea that there is a Gulf state
providing the al-Assad regime with devices to detect
mobile phones. My information, derived from an
informed source directly concerned with the Syrian
file, suggests that this theory is also being promoted
by the al-Assad regime itself, and there are those in
the Arab world who believe it. However, according to
my high-level source, intelligence information
dictates that the Iranians are the ones supplying the
al-Assad regime with such devices, especially as the
Iranian authorities did the same thing during the
outbreak of the Green Revolution in Iran, and were
then able to crush the revolution through the use of
such technology. Again, the revelations do not stop here, as I have
received incredible information revealing that the
reason behind the late arrival of Gulf observers in
Syria, and the fact that they did not join up with the
rest of the Arab observers, was the refusal of the al-Assad
regime to facilitate the entry of Qatari observers, a
stance which prompted all Gulf states to refrain from
sending their observers in solidarity with the Qatari
delegation. This caused great embarrassment for the
Arab League, which ultimately moved the situation
forwards, and the al-Assad regime then allowed Qatari
observers to enter, with the rest of the Gulf
responding in due course! What is worse still, according to my relevant
sources, is that the al-Assad regime did not
originally agree to sign the protocol to send Arab
observers to Syria. Then the Arab League, through one
of its officials, leaked the fact that the head of the
Arab observer delegation would be the Sudanese General
Mustafa al-Dabi. This made the al-Assad regime feel
more comfortable, and so it subsequently agreed and
signed the protocol to send the Arab observer
delegation! All of the above raises genuine concern about the
thought process, and the intentions, of the Arab
League towards the Syrian revolution. Either there is
genuine bewilderment or confusion inside the League,
or there are unsavory intentions in order to maintain
the al-Assad regime, despite all the crimes it has
committed. Here one can only say: What does the Arab
League think about this information? This is
especially considering all the statements issued by
the Arab League, trying to convince the Arabs and the
Syrians that it is acting in the interests of the
unarmed Syrians, but that is not what's happening on
the ground, and not what some senior Arab officials
are saying. So what is really happening? Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq
Al-Awsat, the youngest person to be appointed that
position. He holds a BA degree in Media studies from
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also
completed his Introductory courses towards a Master's
degree from George Washington University in Washington
D.C. He is based in London. Comments 💬 التعليقات |