‘Sanctions against Syria won’t bear fruit’

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for military intervention in Syria to bring down the ruling regime as sanctions continue to be piled on Damascus. But political activist Franklin Lamb has doubts on how effective they can be.

According to Commissioner Navi Pillay, more than 4,000 people, including 307 children, have been killed in the last nine months of clashes between the government forces of President Bashar al-Assad and armed opposition.The UN also condemned Assad's rule, but a resolution that could have paved the way for intervention was blocked by Russia and China.They believe the UN continues to ignore reports of atrocities committed by opposition fighters – and warn that foreign meddling may worsen the situation.Franklin Lamb says the regime is extremely nationalistic to be brought down by Western interference in the form of sanctions as the majority of population will strongly oppose them.“The history going back to Iraq and before teaches us that sanctions are not really effective in changing the behavior of the regime – they are dramatic for local consumption,” Lamb claims, saying the US Congress’ thrills of sanctions against Syria and Iran will bring no fruit in real political terms.“Both sides have got to find another way to defuse the situation,” he maintains.

Dr Ibrahim Alloush, a professor at Zaytouneh University in Jordan, doubts there can be a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Syria as the Arab League “simply wants to topple the Syrian regime and to replace it with a pro-American regime.”

“What’s taking place now is, in fact, an attempt by the Arab League to be used by the United States and NATO against one of the few remaining states in the Arab world that says ‘no’ to United States influence,” he told RT.