Syria and the 22-nation Arab League have reportedly reached an agreement that aims to end nearly eight months of civil unrest. Arab League diplomats have called on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to stop all violence against pro-democracy demonstrators, remove its tanks from the streets, and release political prisoners. Details remain scant on how exactly Syria has agreed to comply with those demands. But after a crackdown that the United Nations says has killed 3,000 people, is there really any hope Assad will back down in the name of peace?
No. Assad can't be trusted: "There may be no alternative to civil war," says Britain's Guardian in an editorial. Syria won't know peace until "Assad sees that he is finished, and that his only hope of survival is to agree to a transitional government and free elections." He often promises reform to unhappy allies — first Turkey, then Saudi Arabia, and now the Arab League. But he never delivers.
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