Analysis - Arab League breaks habit, turns on Syria

By Edmund Blair

CAIRO (Reuters) - After months of silence, Arabs are showing old formulas in the region no longer apply. The Arab League, which for six decades barely lifted a finger in anger at a member state, is now threatening Syria with sanctions for cracking down on protests.

What led to this is a mixture of Syria's blindness to - or at least determination to ignore - change brought with the Arab Spring; Damascus's choice of friends which has for years riled Arabs particularly in the Gulf; and a new chief at the League with a record of human rights work he is now bringing to bear.

Arab foreign ministers meet at the League's headquarters in Cairo on Thursday to discuss stepping up pressure on Syria. A founding member of the pan-Arab body, Syria itself won't attend because it was suspended this month at a gathering in Morocco.

Damascus had agreed to an Arab League plan on November 2 that would have meant drawing its troops out of cities, allowing in monitors and starting talks with the opposition. But scores have been killed since then as tanks and troops have bombarded towns.

Leading the campaign are Sunni Muslim Gulf states that have long fretted about Syria's alliance with their non-Arab rival Shi'ite Iran and accuse it of trying to unsettle the oil-rich monarchies. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are at the forefront of League action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Uprisings sweeping the region have broadened Arab support for action, drawing in governments newly keen for public favour. Egypt, long wary of change, voted for action against Damascus. Libya went a step further. After ousting its leader of 42 years, it recognised Syria's opposition as the legitimate government.

"The first factor for the change is the Arab Spring and the challenge which is unprecedented. It is extremely difficult for other states not to react" to bloodshed in Syria, said Ezzedine Choukri-Fishere, an experienced Egyptian diplomat and now on a panel that will outline reforms at the League.

Change at the pan-Arab body began with Libya, when in March it suspended Tripoli and called for a no-fly zone after Muammar Gaddafi's forces pummelled a rebellion against his rule.