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ow many deaths will it take until President Bashar al-Assad recognizes that too many Syrians have died? Apparently 3,500 (by UN reckoning) is not enough. Fortunately, even though belatedly, leaders of his neighboring Arab countries are now speaking up to tell him that enough is enough. Better late than never, as they say.

The Arab League voted on Saturday to suspend Syria’s membership after Assad’s regime ignored its repeated calls to stop the killing of peaceful protesters demanding democracy. King Abdullah of Jordan, in an interview with BBC on Monday, went one step further by pointedly telling Assad to stand down and allow for an orderly transition.

Assad’s response to the League’s decision is not helping his case with his neighbors. His supporters stormed the embassies of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the latter not in the Arab League but had been Syria’s most vocal neighbor in criticizing the Damascus regime’s harsh treatment of pro-democracy protesters. The Syrian police made no effort to protect the embassies as required by international protocol.

After the Security Council failed to impose harsher sanctions against Syria last month, thanks to a veto by Russia and China against a resolution, it is really left to Syria’s Arab neighbors to take the initiative to stop the brutal killings of Syrians by their own leader.

This is probably one of the rarest moments when Arab solidarity, the Arab League’s raison d’être, has been extended to the Arab people and not simply confined to a regime. It will be probably asking too much that such solidarity should be extended to other Arabs who are still living under tyrannical rule, but Assad has certainly gone too far and the outrage among Arab League member governments was almost unanimous.

With Arab solidarity, Syrians must now count on the support of their Muslim brothers and sisters around the world. The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) has been even slower than the Arab League in condemning the ongoing slaughter in Syria.

Indonesia, as a member of the OIC and proud of its own democracy, should take the lead in calling for a strong action even going as far as expelling Syria. Islam demands no less from true believers to speak up and protect innocent lives.

The Arab League’s decision, and hopefully the OIC’s soon too, would in turn send a clear signal to China and Russia and other members of the Security Council about the need to take stronger international concerted measures to force the Assad regime to end its crackdown and give Syrians an opportunity to live in freedom, democracy and with dignity.