Rime Allaf, associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank in the UK, agrees. "Even the Syrians were surprised by the strength of the decision," she told Deutsche Welle.

"This is without any doubt the biggest crisis that the Syrian regime has faced," she added. "For the first time in the history of Syria you've got the entire Arab League, save one or two countries, talking about economic and political sanctions and withdrawing ambassadors. It's the combination of measures that surprised a lot of us. We expected the threat of suspension, but not so many different clauses."