The unprecedented resolution is aimed at pressuring Damascus to end its deadly suppression of an eight- month-old uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad. However, while hailing the move, many writers said they believed it was another case of too little, too late. In the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat, Tareq Al-Homayed wrote that the sanctions will neither deter nor overthrow the regime. According to Al-Homayed, despite the importance of the Arab decision to impose sanctions on the Al-Assad regime, the situation in Syria had exceeded the point of sanctions. Al-Homayed argues that more should be done at this juncture. First, according to Al-Homayed, "Al-Assad regime's campaign of murder and suppression is still continuing unabated." Second, Al-Homayed said he was certain that the regime itself will now begin to run the black market in Syria after the implementation of these sanctions, as Saddam Hussein's regime did during the international sanctions imposed upon it. Al-Homayed reminds readers that with Iraq familiar with the Arab sanctions, there will be a smuggling route working day and night on the Syrian-Iraqi border. "Therefore, the best thing the Arabs can do today to protect the Syrians is to take the battle to the Security Council." In the London-based daily Al-Hayat, Mustafa Zein stated that the Arab League's decision is said to be aimed at providing safe passage for international interference in Syria "for the protection of civilians from the regime's violent use of force and the tyranny it has exercised for over 30 years." Such interference, adds Zein, has also been said to be aimed at preventing the country from slipping into a civil war that would lead to dividing the country. "Yet a quick look at the Syrian issue confirms that interference is nothing new," Zein argues. "There is not a single government or organisation left that has not intervened, from Turkey to the US, France, Britain, Germany, Iran, Russia, China and the other BRICS countries, to the United Nations and the Arab League," Zein wrote. As for the fear of Syria slipping into civil war and being exposed to division, Zein maintains, it is more of a wish than a fear. The Arab states, explains Zein, are perhaps alone in not wishing to divide Syria, even if they seek to draw it away from Iran. "As for the others, such as the United States and France (and naturally Israel), they have been working to achieve such an outcome (division) for decades. Their interests require it," wrote Zein. In short, Zein explains, "there is no wealth of oil in Syria, but its strategic wealth is priceless" Thus, Zein concludes, the Arab League, and the international community, has reached a dead-end and will not back down. And the Syrian regime has reached the point of no return. "All are in crisis, a crisis that will last for a very long time and result in things that the planners and the players did not have in mind, whether they are international or regional. There is no safe passage for anyone," Zein wrote. Walid Choucair, also in Al-Hayat, agrees that the West does not mind at all a civil war in Syria and that this is the more likely route for the country. According to Choucair, some of the flood of regional and Western statements that talk about civil war in Syria are made in the form of warnings, some are predictions, while a third group deals with the matter as a foregone conclusion. These statements, Choucair pointed out, were preceded by reports that quoted leading figures in the Syrian leadership, who said that whatever the pressure exerted on them, and no matter how successful they were, the leadership will dig in until the end in areas where it enjoys a special level of influence, in order to confront other areas where its influence might wane. "If these leaks by visitors to the Syrian capital are true, it means that the Syrian leadership is in turn moving toward a period of total civil war," Choucair. However, what is more alarming, after the expectations and Western warnings of a civil war, is that they are closer to implicit "wishes" on the part of influential countries. Choucair also cited the West's refrain from intervention in Syria, as it did in Libya. as proof that outside parties are "washing their hands" of doing anything that prevents civil war. Choucair wrote that by doing so, the United States and its allies, including Israel, are more inclined to confront Iranian influence in the "arc" stretching from Tehran to Baghdad, Damascus and South Lebanon. "In light of the difficulty of waging a war against Iran to halt its nuclear programme, confronting Iran's influence requires disassembling the components of this arc, by feeding the centre, or the nucleus, which links these components to the arc, namely Syria, in order to weaken Iran's regional expansion," Choucair argued. The Egyptian parliamentary elections was another focus of Arab pundits. In its editorial, Al-Quds Al-Arabi hailed the high turnout of voters in the first democratic elections in 60 years. "This step puts Egypt on the right road towards building a democratic regime that will put Egypt in its place as a main regional and international power," the editorial said. The editorial added that everyone in the Arab region and outside was watching closely the Egyptian experience with some wishing it success and the realisation of its goals while others wishing it to fail so as not to regain its past leadership in the region. "The Arab masses stand in the first group supporting the Egyptian revolution because they firmly believe Egypt is able to lead the whole Arab nation to safe shores," the editorial explained. On the other hand, the editorial added, Israel and its Western supporters are shaking because "the Egyptian jinni will leave the bottle of corruption and suppression to the realms of freedoms resulting from democracy. "After more than 40 years of humiliation and dependency Egypt is likely to regain its independence and say 'No' to all the ways and forms of Israeli arrogance," the editorial concluded. The UAE daily Al-Bayan described Monday's elections as "historic." In its editorial Al-Bayan wrote that by holding parliamentary elections Egypt is examining its abilities and achievements on the ground. "Nine months after the success of the Egyptian revolution and amidst a phase characterised by divisions among all political factions, holding the elections in its scheduled time is clear evidence that ballot boxes are the only way to re-imposing security and stability in the country."
