Syria will be suspended from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Wednesday for its violent suppression of a 17-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad,a diplomat said on Monday ahead of an emergency OIC summit in Mecca.
The resolution regarding the suspension of the Syrian membership in the OIC is not facing obstacles … It will be approved, said the diplomat,speaking on the sidelines of a preliminary foreign ministers meeting in Jeddah,Saudi Arabia. He said the decision was likely to be formally announced at the end of the second day of the summit,which was called by Saudi Arabias King Abdullah earlier this month.
Iran,which has backed the government of President Bashar al-Assad in his response to the uprising,and has accused the OIC summit hosts Saudi Arabia of assisting the rebels,said it opposed the resolution.
By suspending membership,this does not mean that you are moving toward resolving an issue. This means that you are erasing the issue. We want to really resolve the issue, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi to reporters in Jeddah.
His comments pointed towards a diplomatic showdown in Mecca between some Sunni Muslim states,including Saudi Arabia,and Shia Muslim Iran.
Meanwhile, rebels in eastern Syria said they had captured the pilot of a government fighter jet after shooting down his aircraft on Monday.
The downing of a warplane would be a rare event for lightly armed rebels faced with the superior weaponry of Assads forces. State television said the plane crashed due to technical difficulties. Activists released a video on YouTube which they said showed the pilot,named in the footage as Colonel Mufeed Mohammed Suleiman.
Rebels who say they shot down the jet and captured Suleiman are shown questioning a greying,balding man.
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