Doha: Qatar’s call for Arab military intervention in Syria would be difficult to achieve practically and politically, and would risk dragging the region into an all-out conflict, analysts say.

Qatar’s Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani on Tuesday urged Arab action over war-torn Syria because of the failure of the UN Security Council and other international efforts to end the conflict.

Because of this failure, “it is better for Arab countries to intervene themselves out of their humanitarian, political and military duties and do what is necessary to stop the bloodshed,” Shaikh Hamad told the General Assembly.

But according to Mustafa Al Ani of the Gulf Research Centre, “Arab countries do not have the military capabilities to act as deterrent forces and do not have a united leadership or coordination.”

“An Arab intervention would also open the door for a counter intervention by [Syria’s staunch ally] Iran, and eventually a regional conflict,” said Ani.

Qatar’s Emir cited the precedent of an Arab intervention force sent to Lebanon in the 1970s in a bid to halt that country’s civil war. He called the 1976 Arab League-backed operation “a step that proved to be effective and useful.”

But for Al Ani, the Lebanon intervention, as well as a similar Arab intervention to counter Iraqi forces in Kuwait based on a decision by the Arab League in 1961, “failed politically and militarily.”

In October 1976, a 30,000-strong predominantly Syrian Arab Deterrent Force was sent to Lebanon.

Three years later, Arab troops withdrew, except for the Syrians who stayed on until they eventually pulled out under international pressure in 2005.

Yezid Sayigh, an expert at the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre, agrees that Qatar’s proposal is “impracticable.”

“There is no diplomatic consensus among Arab countries, so how could they agree on military action?”

So far, only Tunisia’s President Munsif Marzouki has said his country could support an Arab peacekeeping force in Syria.

Military intervention also requires “strong involvement from neighbouring countries - Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey,” says Sayigh. “Lebanon and Iraq are not prepared for such an intervention. And even Jordan might not be.”

Neil Partrick, a London-based Middle East expert, also agrees that the proposal is not feasible.

“Qatar is unlikely to get UN blessing for an Arab force that does anything more than observe,” said Partrick. “Without UN Security Council authorisation, not many Arab states will rush to join this army.”

He dismissed the idea as “perhaps just a reflection of the need for leaders to be seen to be doing, or more appropriately, saying something.”