As it announced a crisis talks over Syria on Thursday, the Arab League rejected changes proposed by Damascus to its proposal to send an observer mission there.

As it announced a crisis talks over Syria on Thursday, the Arab League rejected changes proposed by Damascus to its proposal to send an observer mission there.

"The Arab League council will hold an extraordinary meeting on Thursday, at the level of foreign ministers, and will be presided by Qatar," Arab League Deputy Secretary General Ahmed Bin Hilli told reporters.

He said that the ministerial committee on Syria -- comprising Qatar, Egypt, Oman, Sudan, Algeria and Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi -- would meet at the Arab League headquarters on Wednesday to prepare for Thursday's meeting.

Few hours earlier, the Arab bloc rejected amendments suggested by Damascus to a document outlining plans for a 500-strong delegation to monitor the unrest in Syria, an Arab League source said.

"It was agreed that the amendments and appendices proposed by the Syrian side affect the core of the document and would radically change the nature of the mission which is to oversee the implementation of the Arab plan to end the crisis in Syria and protect Syrian civilians," the League said in a statement.

The pan-Arab group, which did not release details of the amendments proposed by Damascus, said it had notified Syria of its decision.
The statement said the Arab League had tasked Arabi to hold further talks with the Damascus government in a bid to have it sign the document on the observers within three days.