Arab League Discusses Syria in Emergency Meeting

The Arab League held an emergency meeting in Cairo to decided and discuss whether to suspend Syria from the League. While suspension is unlikely to have any major impact to Syria, it would be another step in further isolating Bashar al-Assad‘s government. The meeting, as requested by many Gulf states, comes six months after peaceful demonstrations began calling for al-Assad to step down. The developments that came out of the meeting are a day after Syrian security forces fired into a funeral precession for a 10 year old boy, killing three and injuring many more.

The League also called for dialogue between the Syrian opposition and the government, moderated by a committee chaired by Qatar. In a statement issued by Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani noted “the Arab League said the move seeks to launch a national dialogue within the seat of the Arab League and under its guidance within 15 days.” The announcement comes after the U.N. reported the death toll has exceeded 3,000.