After Expelling Syria, Arab League Slaps Sanctions Against a Fellow Arab State.

The 22 countries of the Arab League

The Rebbe says that through the service of the Jewish people during the long exile, the nations of the world are now refined and ready for the Redemption. Recently the Arab League threw out Syria for brutality against its own people. It is highly unusual that the Arabs would criticize another Arab nation publicly for cruel behavior. Now the countries in the Arab League are applying economic sanctions against Syria to "add teeth" to their resolution. As the following Associated Press story notes, this is unprecedented.

From Rav Yekutiel Fish, cited on yeranenyaakov.blogspot.com: When Damascus Falls, the Holy Temple Will be Rebuilt.

• With what's going on in Syria, it's interesting what the Otzar Midrashim says that when Niron Mizrahi of Damascus falls, the Eastern kingdom will fall, and then, the salvation for Israel will sprout.
• David Hamelech (King David) captured Suria, but it didn't have the full status of Eretz Yisrael because it was captured before Eretz Yisrael proper was captured, says the Rambam on Demai 6:11.  So why did David Hamelech do so?  He knew that capturing Damascus was integral to getting the Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple). (דמשק is the same letters as מקדש ...)     Therefore, he tried to capture Suria to bring about the Beit Hamikdash being rebuilt, but it was premature.    Now that he captured Suria, he merited to see the light of the Beit Hamikdash prematurely in Bat Sheva - as he knew that the builder of the Beit Hamikdash would come via her.

In unprecedented step, Arab League sanctions Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — In an unprecedented move against a fellow Arab nation, the Arab League on Sunday approved economic sanctions onSyria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly suppression of an 8-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.

But even as world leaders abandon Assad, the regime has refused to ease a military assault on dissent that already has killed more than 3,500 people. On Sunday, Damascus slammed the sanctions as a betrayal of Arab solidarity and insisted a foreign conspiracy was behind the revolt, all but assuring more bloodshed will follow.

The sanctions are among the clearest signs yet of the isolation Syria is suffering because of the crackdown. Damascus has long boasted of being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism, but Assad has been abandoned by some of his closest allies and now his Arab neighbors. The growing movement against his regime could transform some of the most enduring alliances in the Middle East and beyond.

At a news conference in Cairo, Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said 19 of the League's 22 member nations approved a series of tough punishments that include cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank, halting Arab government funding for projects in Syria and freezing government assets. Those sanctions are to take effect immediately.

Other steps, including halting flights and imposing travel bans on some, as-yet unnamed Syrian officials, will come later after a committee reviews them.

"The Syrian people are being killed but we don't want this. Every Syrian official should not accept killing even one person," bin Jassim said. "Power is worth nothing while you stand as an enemy to your people."

He added that the League aims to "to avoid any suffering for the Syrian people."

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