e-cigarette review NEWS: Syria unrest: Arab League mulls extending monitor team

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Syria unrest: Arab League mulls extending monitor team

The ministers will discuss a report by the mission's head in Cairo, Egypt.
The 165-strong mission expired on Thursday with no sign of a halt to the government's crackdown on protesters.
The observers have been criticised for failing to stop the violence, but analysts say the league is expected to renew the mission for another month.
Meanwhile, Syrian rebels said that army deserters had briefly taken control of much of the Damascus suburb of Douma on Saturday night after fierce fighting with the security services.
The rebels later decided to withdraw for fear of reprisal raids from the government forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In a separate development, at least 14 people died after a van carrying prisoners was blown up on a road in north-west Syria on Saturday, reports say.
The official Sana news agency said the police van was attacked by an "armed group" on the Idlib-Ariha highway.
Opposition groups confirmed the attack but did not say who carried it out.
Rights activists also said 30 unidentified corpses had been discovered at the National Hospital in Idlib and at least six people died elsewhere.
The UN says that more than 5,000 have died since protests against President Bashar al-Assad erupted last March.
The government in Damascus says that some 2,000 members of the security forces have also been killed combating "armed gangs and terrorists".
'No appetite' The conclusions reached by the Arab League mission's head, Sudanese Gen Mohammed al-Dabi, had been due to be discussed by a committee of ministers on Saturday, but later reports said ministerial talks would now be held on Sunday.
The main meeting in Cairo is expected to start at 14:00 GMT.
Before that a panel led by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad al-Thani will start the discussions.
Qatar has has previously suggested sending Arab peacekeepers to Syria, but Damascus has firmly rejected the idea. Arab League monitors speaks to Syrian boy. Photo: January 2012
It appears that there is no clearly thought out alternative to the monitoring mission, and no appetite - as yet - for a radical change of course, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says.
League officials have already hinted that the most likely outcome will be to renew the mission for another month, possibly doubling the number of observers on the ground.
Meanwhile the opposition Syrian National Council presented the league with a formal request to refer the crisis to the UN Security Council.
Last week, the head of the Arab League's Cairo operations room, Adnan al-Khudeir, said the observers would remain in 17 difference places around Syria until the final decision is made.
Although the mandate of the observer mission came to an end formally on Thursday, the agreement covering it provides for an extension for a second month if both sides agree.
So far there has been no suggestion from Damascus that the monitors should be withdrawn.

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