Saudi Arabia has urged the indefinite postponement of an Arab League meeting on Syria that Riyadh itself called, the group’s deputy chief Ahmed Ben Helli said on Friday.

Saudi Arabia has urged the indefinite postponement of an Arab League meeting on Syria that Riyadh itself called, the group's deputy chief Ahmad Ben Helli said on Friday.

The meeting of foreign ministers was originally called for Monday by Riyadh, which backs the insurgent in the conflict, to discuss "steps that need to be taken to deal with the Syrian tragedy".

But the Saudis have now indefinitely postponed what was originally billed as an emergency gathering that they were going to host without saying why, and no new date has been set for it.

Western and Gulf nations are due to hold their latest meeting in London on May 15 to discuss boosting support for the insurgents.

More than 150,000 people are estimated to have been killed in Syria since the start of the insurgency against the Syrian government in 2011.

UN-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said in late March that a resumption of peace talks in Geneva between Damascus and the opposition was currently "out of the question".