Arab call for UN action gives legitimacy to US strike: analysts

The Arab foreign ministers' call on Sunday for UN action against Damascus provides legitimacy for the US administration to press ahead with its plan to strike Syria for an alleged chemical attack, analysts said.

"The Arab League's decision is a legitimate cover for more violence in Syria," Yousri el-Azabawi, a political expert at the Al- Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, told Xinhua.

The resolution dubbed the situation in Syria as "dangerous" and urged the UN to take deterrent action to put an end to the "genocide crimes" committed by the Syrian government led by Bashar al- Assad in the past two years.

"Unfortunately, the Arabs presented a pretext for a war on Syria amid unreal justifications, just like what happened in Iraq in 2003 in the name of fighting terrorism and eliminating weapons of mass destruction, which proved to be false allegations," Azabawi said.

The Syrian government was smart in asking a UN team to probe the use of the chemical weapons but this step provoked some Arab countries to press for a resolution before the international inspectors send their report, he explained.

"The Syrian people will be the only losers in the escalating violence in the country," Azabawi said, adding that the Arab countries should pay more attention to the civilians instead of the governments.

"The Arab decision came in the favor of the U.S. administration which is waiting for a congressional approval to strike Syria," Azabawi added.

On Saturday, US President Barack Obama said he had decided the US should strike Syrian government targets in response to the Aug 21 chemical weapons attack, while adding that he would seek congressional approval for any military action.

Gamal Salama, a professor of political science at Suez University, said the Arab resolution gives a boost to Obama's decision for military intervention.

He added that Arab citizens will not oppose military action against Syria due to their own domestic problems and media mobilisation against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.