Arab League plan for Syria is a nonstarter

TEHRAN, Jan. 30(MNA) -- The goal of the Arab League’s special plan for Syria is to internationalize the crisis in the country, and the architects of the plan are actually looking for a pretext to forward the Syrian issue to the United Nations Security Council. But there are also some obstacles in the way of the plan to impose Security Council sanctions on Syria. The main problem is Russia, which has declared that it views any intervention in Syria as a red line. However, Moscow seems to have no objection to some of the Arab League’s goals. For example, Russian officials have not expressed opposition to the Arab League’s call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to transfer power to his vice president. There are even unconfirmed reports about secret negotiations between Moscow and Washington on a transfer of power in Syria. The plan for Syria proposed by the Arab League is very similar to the plan for Yemen proposed by the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council. Both plans were drafted by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, under the direct influence of the United States. The main difference between the two plans is that in Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh cooperated with the Arab states in the efforts to bring the situation on the ground under control, but the Syrian president does not need to and will not be a part of the proposed solution. Saleh finally came to the conclusion that he should resign, but Assad has refused to resign because he still enjoys a great deal of support among the Syrian people. This is the main reason why the Arab League plan is bound to fail in Syria. And thus, the Arab League’s malicious plot against Syria will not gain the necessary support at the international level, and the Arab states will have to devise another scenario to topple the Syrian government.