"The presence of the warship off the coast of Lebanon shows that the United States is striving to undermine all political solutions in the Lebanese crisis," Muallem said.

The league's failure is also linked to its constitutional set-up.

Kamal said the AL charter signed by member states in 1945 does not give the bloc the power to make binding resolutions.

"The league is simply a secretariat that follows up implementation of resolutions but does not enforce them," the former diplomat added.

Kamal saw a need to learn from European countries, which form "a more homogeneous group albeit with different languages" and "respect the union's charter and resolutions and carry them out."

Despite an apparent weakness in helping inter-Arab disputes, the AL has managed to hold the Arab identity, the most important element of any initiative.

The West accuses Syria of backing Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition in the standoff. By contrast, the AL follows an even-handed policy.

"Syria is part of the Arab initiative to find a solution to the Lebanese crisis, and all the Arab countries are involved in the Lebanese issue," said AL chief Moussa during his good offices mission in January.

Moussa succeeded in getting Lebanese opposition leader Michel Aoun and majority leader Saad Hariri to meet in the parliament, a sign of headway.

The AL has never lost confidence in maintaining its Lebanon legacy since Arab intervention led to the end of the civil war in the country in 1990.

The same even-handedness could be seen in the AL policy toward Iraqi politicians, with the approval of aid to build trust in the war-torn Arab state.