A pan-Arab coalition with a patchy record steps up as Yemen falls apart and U.S. policy remains unclear.
Few organizations boast a reputation of dysfunction comparable to the Arab League’s. Over seven decades the Arab League has distinguished itself through infighting and fecklessness. But now, with the Obamaadministration seen as missing in action in the Middle East, the alliance of 22 countries is undergoing a renaissance. Over the weekend, the Arab League met in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and endorsed the creation of an intervention force to fight terrorism in the Middle East.
Regional backing for the force came days after a mostly Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed, nominally Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, who last week sacked the provisional capital of Aden and drove Yemen President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi into exile.
While developments in Yemen added to the urgency, discussions about a pan-Arab force have been under way for months. The main driver is Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, whose country faces a terrorism problem, and he is supported by such key Sunni Arab leaders as King Abdullah II of Jordan and King Salman of Saudi Arabia.
