Arab leaders call for political solution to Syrian conflict

Arab League leaders concluded their 25th summit yesterday with a united call for a political solution to the Syrian conflict based on the 2012 Geneva declaration that provides for a ceasefire, release of political prisoners, and a peaceful transfer of power.

During the Kuwait gathering, expatriate opposition Syrian National Coalition president Ahmed Jarba urged the Arabs to supply rebels with “sophisticated weapons”. Saudi crown prince Salman bin Abdel-Aziz, whose country has financed and armed rebels, accused the world of “betraying” them by denying them weaponry to change the balance of forces on the ground.

UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, however, pressed for an end to the flow of arms to Syria, while Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said the organisation has "nothing to do with providing the Syrian opposition with weapons".

He also said the coalition’s presence at the gathering was an exceptional event as there are technical and legal obstacles to extending recognition as a government so it could assume Syria’s seat which remained empty.

Full support for Abbas
Arab leaders expressed full support for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in US-brokered talks with Israel, backed the creation of a Palestinian state within the ceasefire lines of 1967 and expressed "total rejection of the call to consider Israel as a Jewish state".

This demand has been put forward by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu even though Palestinians recognised the state of Israel in 1993. They refuse to characterise it as a “Jewish state” because of Israel’s 1.6 million citizens of Palestinian origin and exiled Palestinians’ “right” to return to their homes under UN General Assembly resolution 194 of 1948.

While the leaders agreed that “terrorism” constitutes a major challenge in the region, they did not discuss designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist organisation”, a move supported by Egypt and Saudi Arabia but opposed by Qatar.

Only 13 of the 22 heads of state attended the summit. Ministers substituted for monarchs, presidents, and prime ministers.

The rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar over the latter’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadi groups, and differences over the Syrian conflict, have created a new Arab cold war that Kuwait had hoped to end.

Kuwaiti foreign ministry undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah admitted, however, differences would “be resolved in the Gulf house” rather than at the summit.

The summit coincided with an offensive in Syria's northern coastal Latakia province by fundamentalist insurgent forces, including al-Qaeda- linked Jabhat al-Nusra, which have taken control of the crossing on the Turkish border at the Armenian village of Kassab as well as the village of Samra.

Assad heartland
Fighting has continued at Qastal Maaf on the coast north of the heartland of the heterodox Shia Alawite sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

The object of the offensive is, activists have said, to draw troops away from recently recaptured areas along the Lebanese frontier.

Following government air raids and heavy shelling of Kassab, Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara would “take any measures,” including cross-border raids to “protect its national security”.