Puppet AL gave Syria’s seat to bandits, thugs

The Syrian government has censured a decision by the Arab League (AL) to hand Syria’s seat to opposition forces on the eve of the organization’s annual summit in the Qatari capital.

“The league has handed Syria’s stolen seat to bandits and thugs,” Syrian government daily al-Thawra said in a report published on Monday.

“They have forgotten that it is the people who grant the powers and not the emirs of obscurantism and sand,” it added.

A Syrian state television also said, “Qatar wants to bypass the rules of the Arab League by giving the seat of a founding member of the league to a coalition that obeys only the money and fuel of the [Persian] Gulf and submits to American dictates.”

On March 6, the Arab League called on Syria’s opposition National Coalition “to form an executive body to take up Syria’s seat” at the upcoming summit, which is due to be held in Doha on Tuesday.

In November 2011, the Arab League suspended Syria, which is a founding member of the organization.

Iraq and Algeria are the only countries that have expressed reservations for the summit, while Lebanon has opposed the decision.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Syrian army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

Damascus says the West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are supporting the militants.