Syria’s Assad will face isolation: FM

Syria’s leadership has failed to honor the commitments it made to end violence against anti-government protesters and will face isolation in the Arab world as a consequence, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said yesterday.

“The cost for the Syrian administration of not fulfilling the promises it made to the Arab League is its isolation in the Arab World,” Davutoğlu said during the Turkish-Arab Cooperation Forum, a meeting with Arab foreign ministers in the Moroccan capital. Davutoğlu said it was impossible for Syria to succeed in its fight against its own people. Davutoğlu said nobody could defy the will of people who poured onto the streets demanding freedom.

More sanctions from Turkey

The minister said he hoped the region would become a beacon of tolerance and stability and added that Turkey would continue to stand by the Syrian people. Davutoğlu also said Turkey was considering whether to impose more sanctions against Syria to support the Arab League’s move to punish the Syrian regime for its failure to end a eight-month-old crackdown on anti-government protestors.

“Turkey is considering whether to take some measures on its own to support those steps of the Arab League,” Davutoğlu said. On Nov. 15 the U.S. welcomed Turkey’s decision to impose energy sanctions on Syria. “We very much welcome the strong stand that Turkey has taken,” deputy U.S. national security adviser Ben Rhodes said. Meanwhile, Syria freed prisoners jailed for attending the anti-regime protests, according to state-owned television SANA. “Some 1,180 prisoners who attended the rallies but did not have connection with any bloody incident have been released,” SANA reported.

Urgent steps for Syrians

Turkey and members of the Arab League called yesterday for “urgent measures” to protect Syrian civilians from violent repression by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. In a statement issued after a Turkish-Arab cooperation forum in Rabat, they also declared they were “against all foreign intervention in Syria”. “The forum declares that it is necessary to stop the bloodshed and to spare Syrian citizens from new acts of violence and killing, and demands that urgent measures are taken to ensure the protection of civilians,” the statement said. “Ministers also stressed the importance of Syria’s stability and unity and the need to find a resolution to the crisis without any foreign intervention,” it said. The Turkish-Arab talks came ahead of an Arab League meeting on the Syrian crisis in Rabat amid growing signs the Assad regime is losing its grip on power with disaffected soldiers attacking a military base near Damascus.

Compiled from AA and AFP stories by the Daily News staff.