The Arab League gave its observer delegation the green light to go forward with its mission in Syria, as the pressure has been escalating against Damascus.
The Arab League gave its observer delegation the green light to go forward with its mission in Syria, as the pressure has been escalating against Damascus.
At a meeting in Cairo on Sunday, an Arab ministerial committee gave its observer mission to Syria the green light to carry on and pledged to boost the number of monitors.
Meanwhile on Monday, a Syrian television channel, Dunia, said that a convoy of Arab monitors had come under fire from a terrorist group in the Baba Amro district of Homs, a flashpoint city in central Syria, wounding a driver.
The AL committee "decided to give Arab League observers the necessary time to continue their mission according to the protocol," which sets a one-month term, renewable with the agreement of both sides.
The ministers agreed to increase the number of observers and said they may seek "technical assistance from the United Nations" in the face of unrest.
The committee urged Damascus "to fully and immediately implement its commitments" under the Arab plan, calling on all parties "to immediately stop all forms of violence."
Also at the Cairo meeting, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, who chaired the Cairo meeting, called on Syria to "take a historic decision to stop the bloodshed”.
A report by the observers discussed at the meeting showed that "killing has been reduced. But even one killing (is too much)," said Sheikh Hamad, whose country has taken a lead role in efforts to resolve the crisis.
Sheikh Hamad said the League hoped to raise the number of observers to 300 "within the next few days" from around 163 now deployed.
The head of the mission, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, is to give a report to the League on January 19 on Syria's compliance with the peace plan, the ministers said.
On the other hand, Turkey, which has openly called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, meanwhile, called on the opposition to keep up its resistance through "peaceful means."
After a meeting with the so-called Syrian National Council on Sunday in Istanbul, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman in Ankara urged the opposition to carry on with their “rebellion”.
"The Syrian opposition demands democracy and we told them during a meeting yesterday (Sunday) that this should be done through peaceful means," the spokesman told AFP, referring to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's talks with the SNC.
For its part, the Muslim Brotherhood slammed the Arab League’s decision.
"It is clear that the observer mission in Syria seeks to cover up the crimes of the Syrian regime by giving it the time and opportunity to kill our people and break their will," Brotherhood spokesman Zuhair Salem said.
A team of Arab League monitors has been in Syria since December 26, trying to assess whether Assad's regime is complying with a peace accord aimed at ending the ten-month unrest.
