CAIRO/BEIRUT: The Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria on Tuesday because of worsening violence, a move Damascus said was an attempt to draw foreign intervention as it struggles to quell a 10-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
The Arab League took the decision days after calling, unsuccessfully, for Assad to step down and make way for a government of national unity. It will take an Arab peace plan to the UN Security Council next week.
The rising violence in Syria took a dramatic turn this week when rebels seized three Damascus suburbs. On Tuesday the army launched an offensive against them, leading to intense fighting.
‘Given the critical deterioration of the situation in Syria and the continued use of violence … it has been decided to immediately stop the work of the Arab League’s mission to Syria pending presention of the issue to the league’s council,’ Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said in a statement.
Arab League foreign ministers are expected to discuss early next month the possibility of withdrawing monitors completely, a League official said, but added that the secretary general could pull monitors out at any time if necessary.
‘Syria regrets and is surprised at the Arab decision to stop the work of its monitoring mission,’ state channel Syria TV cited a government official as saying.
‘This will have a negative impact and put pressure on (Security Council) deliberations with the aim of calling for foreign intervention and encouraging armed groups to increase violence,’ the official added.
The Arab League mission was sent to observe Syria’s implementation of a League peace plan, but the level of violence remained high and there was no sign of a let-up in the crackdown on unrest by Assad’s forces.
The mission’s mandate was extended for a second month, but critics said the team’s presence had not lessened the fighting, and the mission was further undermined when Gulf states withdrew their monitors last week, saying the team could not stop the violence.
Diplomatic pressure on Assad to step down or to carry out the peace plan has been weakened by his continuing support from Russia and regional power Iran. Assad himself blames the unrest on foreign-backed militants.
There was fighting outside three rebel-held suburbs of Damascus on Tuesday, activists said, adding they believed the army was trying to prevent the insurgents from building a stronghold in an area so close to the centre of government.
Eight residents were killed and dozens wounded and 11 government troops killed in the clashes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that security forces shot dead four civilians and an army deserter elsewhere in the country. The Damascus insurgents were emboldened by a string of reports of army desertions, and activists said one group of deserters had brought with them their three tanks. (UNI)