Syria accepts Arab League plan 'in principle' as crackdown continues

[News_Editor]

Syria accepts Arab League plan 'in principle' as crackdown continues

2011-11-19 10:23:16 GMT+7 (ICT)

DAMASCUS (BNO NEWS) -- Syria has agreed "in principle" to allow an observer mission into the country, a senior Arab diplomat said, as more than a dozen protesters were reportedly killed on Friday alone.

According to a CNN report, a senior Arab diplomat said Syria has accepted an Arab League plan to permit 500 observers into the country to verify whether the regime has taken measures to protect civilians. The Arab League on Wednesday gave Syria three days to end the crackdown and allow observers to enter the nation.

However, Syria has reportedly requested amendments to the protocol before signing it. Nabil el-Araby, secretary-general of the Arab League, said the league is studying a letter from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem that includes amendments on the protocol and duties of the observers.

Meanwhile, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said at least 17 people, including four children, were killed on Friday by security forces. The attacks come after 26 people were killed by security forces on Thursday, on top of scores killed earlier in the week, the LCC said.

International pressure has been mounting on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over his regime's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. France's top diplomat on Friday also called on the United Nations Security Council to step up and grapple with the eight-month-long crisis in the Arab nation.

"Despite all the calls that were made to that regime" for peaceful initiatives to end the raging street violence, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters in the Turkish capital of Ankara, "the regime did not want to know anything. Still this morning, in the north of Syria, several villages were bombarded by the Syrian army."

"It is not normal in a crisis of this scope -- 3,000 dead already, 20,000 prisoners in Syrian prisons, who are sometimes treated very brutally with torture," Juppe said, as quoted by CNN. "It is not acceptable that the U.N. Security Council does not speak up."

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, appearing before reporters with Juppe, said his nation opposes "all kinds of use of violence against civilians" and hopes "Arab peoples will determine their own fate in this vein without a need for foreign intervention." He called for al-Assad's ouster but said the establishment of a no-fly zone is not yet up for discussion.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Indonesia that the United States has been concerned for weeks that the situation in Syria is spiraling out of control. She said the Syrian government has to change, especially now similar messages are being sent 'loud and clearly' by other Arab League nations. "[if not,] we all fear what the consequences will be," she said.

Pro-democracy demonstrations have spread across the country since mid-March, resulting in a fierce government crackdown which has left more than 3,500 people killed. The Syrian government has claimed violent acts against protesters have been carried out by 'terrorists dressed as soldiers,' although international observers have rejected these claims.

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