Arab League Won’t Give US Air Cover for Strike on Syria

The Arab League, split on whether to back U.S. intervention in Syria, has categorically denied reports that its member states will give the United States air cover in the event of a military attack on the Assad regime.

It told the United Nations is backs “deterrence” but avoided using the word “intervention,” despite Saudi Arabia’s insistence that “opposition to international action only encourages the regime to pursue its crimes.”

Egypt, supposed America’s strongest ally in the Middle East except for Israel, is opposed to military action.

Ambassador Nassif Hatta, spokesperson for Arab League secretary general, said that the use of chemical weapons in Syria is a crime but that the way to deal with the issue is through the United Nations Security Council.

He said giving air cover to the United States is out of the question because ”the Arab League does not give green light” but acts “according to international law.”