Obama praises Arab League for suspending Syria

HONOLULU (AFP) – US President Barack Obama on Saturday praised the “leadership” of the Arab League after the grouping suspended Syria in a move that deepened the Damascus government’s isolation. The League said the suspension will remain in place until President Bashar al-Assad implements an Arab deal to end violence against protesters, and called for sanctions and transition talks with the opposition. “I applaud the important decisions taken by the Arab League today, including the suspension of Syria’s membership,” Obama said in a written statement issued in Hawaii, where he is hosting an Asia-Pacific summit. “After the Assad regime flagrantly failed to keep its commitments, the Arab League has demonstrated leadership in its effort to end the crisis and hold the Syrian government accountable. “These significant steps expose the increasing diplomatic isolation of a regime that has systematically violated human rights and repressed peaceful protests,” he added. Obama’s government ditched its earlier strategy of seeking engagement with the Assad regime after government forces unleashed a fierce crackdown on demonstrators, which the US president deplored as “callous violence.” Now, Washington says Assad has lost legitimacy and must step down, and wants to see Syria trace a similar political transition to other states caught up in the Arab Spring uprisings that are reshaping the Middle East. In Cairo, the Arab League said Syria’s suspension would last “until the total implementation of the Arab plan for resolving the crisis accepted by Damascus on November 2.” Under the deal, Assad’s regime agreed to release detainees, withdraw the army from urban areas, allow free movement for observers and media and negotiate with the opposition. Instead, human rights groups say, the regime has intensified its crackdown, especially in the city of Homs, an epicenter of protests. More than 3,500 people have been killed in the Syrian crackdown, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.