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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Arab League Syria Mission Chief Resigns

2012-02-13

[An Nahar] The head of a controversial Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... observer mission to Syria has resigned, an Arab League official told Agence La Belle France Presse on Sunday. The resignation of General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi was due to be officially announced at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo later in the day, the official said, without saying why the Sudanese former military intelligence officer had quit. Arab countries were meeting in Cairo in a renewed push to end Syria's bloody 11-month crackdown on dissent, as fighting escalated. The resignation comes as the ministers discuss the possibility of sending a joint U.N.-Arab mission to Syria, the official said. He added that Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi also met with former Jordanian PM Abdel Ilah Khatib, who has been proposed as the next Arab envoy to Syria, the official said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Arab League Observer Chief Satisfied with Syria Mission

2012-02-03

[An Nahar] The head of the controversial Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... observer mission to Syria expressed satisfaction with the monitors' effort on Thursday, even as a deadly regime crackdown on dissent continues. "I swear by God, I am fully satisfied with myself and with all those on the mission in Syria," Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi told news hounds on a brief return to his homeland. "There is a campaign against the mission and against the head of the mission and there are some allegations against it, but all of this is untrue," Dabi said, adding critics did not understand the observers' role. The 165 monitors were deployed in December after Syria agreed to an Arab League plan for a halt to the violence, for prisoners to be freed, tanks withdrawn from towns and on the free movement of observers and foreign media. None of the clauses in the protocol was respected. The Arab League said on Saturday it was suspending its mission because of an upsurge in violence.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Arab League Urges Security Council to Stop Syria 'Killing Machine'

2012-02-01

[An Nahar] Qatar's prime minister, speaking on behalf of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... , urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to take action to stop Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... "killing machine." Opening a top-level Security Council meeting on the Syrian crisis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said that the vaporous Arab League had tried to seek a solution with Assad in face of the 10-month uprising. "Our efforts and initiatives, however, have been all useless because the Syrian government failed to make any sincere effort to cooperate with us and the only solution available to it was to kill its own people," he said. "Bloodshed continued and the killing machine is still at work," he said. He called for support of a U.N. draft resolution, sponsored by Arab League member Morocco, under which Assad would step down from power and agree to an end to violence ahead of negotiations on a settlement. Russia, a close ally of Syria which holds veto power on the Security Council, has voiced opposition to the draft. Western allies brought out their diplomatic big guns at the Security Council Tuesday to try to overcome the Russian opposition. The showdown at the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... came as fighting escalated between Syrian government forces and rebels and a senior U.S. official predicted that Assad would be toppled. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Woman to Call at 3 a.m. and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Henry L. Stimson ... was leading the charge for U.N. action in Syria, backed by allies British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe. The proposed U.N. resolution, crafted by the Western powers and the Arab League, seeks to stop a Syrian crackdown that the United Nations says has killed more than 5,400 people in the past 10 months. Under the resolution, Assad would be ordered immediately to halt violence and hand power to his deputy. While there is no threat of use of force in the resolution, Russia says it amounts to regime change. "I don't think Russian policy is about asking people to step down. Regime change is not our profession," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, arguing that while the Syrian president was not an ally of Moscow, it was not up to other nations to interfere. The text of the resolution, seen by Agence La Belle France Presse, calls for the formation of a unity government leading to "transparent and free elections," while stressing there will be no foreign military intervention in Syria, as there was in Libya during the toppling of Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... . Assad's government has already flatly rejected a similarly worded resolution proposed by the Arab League. Russia's deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, said on Tuesday that the resolution would be a "path towards civil war" in the increasingly divided country. But in Washington, U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper said the fall of the Assad was inevitable already. "I do not see how he can sustain his rule of Syria," Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told senators. "I personally believe it's a question of time but that's the issue, it could be a long time." The opposition Syrian National Council deplored the international community's lack of "swift action" to protect civilians "by all necessary means," in a statement on Facebook. The SNC, the most representative group opposed to Assad, reaffirmed the "people's determination to fight for their freedom and dignity," stressing they "will not give up their revolution, whatever the sacrifices." The head of the now-defunct Arab League observer mission to Syria, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, said there had been a marked upsurge in violence since last Tuesday. On Monday alone, almost 100 people, including 55 civilians, were killed during a regime assault on the city of Homs, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. On Tuesday, at least 32 people were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The rebel Free Syrian Army said half of the country was now effectively a no-go zone for the security forces. "Fifty percent of Syrian territory is no longer under the control of the regime," its Turkey-based commander Colonel Riad al-Asaad told AFP. He said the morale of government troops was extremely low. "That's why they are bombing indiscriminately, killing men, women and kiddies," he said. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... Syria's foreign ministry expressed outrage over "the aggressive American and Western statements against Syria (that) are escalating in a scandalous manner," and blamed violence on "armed terrorist groups." A report from the state news agency SANA said Assad had visited maimed servicemen and praised their "unique will, bravery." CIA director David Petraeus told senators in Washington that Assad now faced challenges in Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... and Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... , two cities that had been seen as insulated from the unrest. "I think it has shown indeed how substantial the opposition to the regime is and how it is in fact growing and how increasing areas are becoming beyond the reach of the regime security forces," Petraeus said. Amid the escalating violence, U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... called for unity at the Security Council. The Council must be "united this time, speak and act in a coherent manner, reflecting the wishes of the international community and reflecting the urgent wishes and aspirations of the Syrian people, who have been yearning for freedom," Ban said. Qatar's prime minister, speaking on behalf of the Arab League, urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to take action to stop Syrian President Bashir al-Assad's "killing machine." Opening a top-level Security Council meeting on the Syrian crisis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said that the Arab League had tried to seek a solution with Assad in face of the 10-month uprising. "Our efforts and initiatives, however, have been all useless because the Syrian government failed to make any sincere effort to cooperate with us and the only solution available to it was to kill its own people," he said. "Bloodshed continued and the killing machine is still at work," he said. He called for support of a U.N. draft resolution, sponsored by Arab League member Morocco, under which Assad would step down from power and agree to an end to violence ahead of negotiations on a settlement. Russia, a close ally of Syria which holds veto power on the Security Council, has voiced opposition to the draft.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Dabi: Syria Violence Increased Significantly in Past 3 Days

2012-01-28

[An Nahar] The head of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... monitoring mission in Syria said Friday that violence there rose "in a significant way" in three days, particularly in the flashpoint cities of Homs, Hama and Idlib. "The violence in Syria increased in a significant way between January 24 and 27, especially in Homs, Hama and Idlib," General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi said in a statement. "The situation at present, in terms of violence, does not help prepare the atmosphere ... to get all sides to sit at the negotiating table," Dabi said. The Sudanese general called for "an immediate end to the violence to protect the Syrian people and clear the way for peaceful resolutions" to the crisis. The statement came as Syrian forces raided Homs, where dozens have been killed, and Western and Arab nations rushed to unveil a draft U.N. resolution that would condemn the deadly crackdown that has killed more than 5,400 since March.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

24 Dead as Syrian Forces Pound Protest Hub of Hama

2012-01-26

Syrian security forces raked the central protest city of Hama with heavy machinegun fire and explosives on Wednesday for the second straight day, as troops killed 18 civilians and six army deserters across the country, activists said. "The Syrian army is bombarding Hama with heavy weapons, using rocket-propelled grenades," said a statement from the Local Coordination Committees, which organizes anti-regime protests on the ground. "The 'shabiha' (regime militiamen) and security agents backed up by tanks are pounding all parts of the Baba Qibli neighborhood," said the LCC. "There will be dead and maimed. Houses have collapsed," it said, adding about 4,000 soldiers supported by tanks were in the rebel town 210 kilometers north of Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... Baba Qibli was the scene of massive protests and where mutinous soldiers of the Free Syrian Army have been holed up, Saleh al-Hamwi, front man of the General Revolution Commission, told Agence La Belle France Presse on Tuesday. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces killed five people in the restive countryside around Damascus, four people in Hama, four in the central opposition bastion Homs, three in the flashpoint northwestern province of Idlib, one in the northern province of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... and another in the southern province of Daraa, the cradle of the uprising. For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there was at least one dead in Hama. "One civilian was killed on Wednesday at dawn in Hama's Sheikh Anbar district, which has also been the target of army fire along with Baba Qibli," it said in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia. The General Revolution Commission called for Sudan's General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, who heads the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... monitoring mission to Syria, to "come and see the tanks in Hama before they destroy the city." "These tanks could be withdrawn in 10 minutes by the Syrian forces and hidden at Hama's military airport," it added. The city has already been the target of major military offensives to make its rebel residents bow to the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... His father Hafez, who died in 2000, set his armed forces on the city in 1982 to put down an armed revolt by the Moslem Brüderbund, killing an estimated 20,000 people. Syria's al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the authorities, said on Wednesday the military had launched an offensive aimed at retaking several districts in Hama that were controlled by Death Eaters. It said the assault followed "the failure of efforts" to come up with a peaceful solution. "The competent authorities have decided to resolve the matter in a definitive manner in order to relieve the city of armed militias," it said. The authorities "yesterday morning launched a campaign to clean up the cramped residential areas of Baba Qibli, Jarajima, Farraya, Olayliyat and Hamidiyeh, after leaving the door open to those who wished to surrender and lay down their arms," al-Watan said. The Observatory said 33 non-combatants were killed by fire from the security forces across the country on Tuesday, 23 of them in the central province of Homs. "Another 19 civilians died on Tuesday when two buildings in Homs city's Bab Tadmor neighborhood collapsed and burned after being bombarded by security forces," it added of Syria's third largest city, citing residents.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Arab League to Seek U.N. Support for Syria Decisions, Asks Assad to Cede Power to VP

2012-01-23

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday decided to go to the U.N. Security Council to seek its support for the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... 's decisions aimed at resolving the Syrian crisis. The Arab League "has decided to go to the U.N. Security Council to seek its support for the Arab initiative and we're not seeking internationalization or a military solution," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, the head of an Arab taskforce on Syria, clarified after the meeting. During the talks, aimed at discussing the fate of the widely criticized Arab observer mission in Syria, the ministers also called on Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... to "delegate his powers to the first vice president (Farouq al-Sharaa), who would have every prerogative to cooperate with a national unity government that would include the opposition. " Such a government would be formed "within two months, and be presided over by a consensus candidate. Its mission would be to implement the vaporous Arab League plan to end the crisis, and to prepare free and fair legislative and presidential elections under both Arab and international supervision." The national unity government would also prepare the election of a constituent assembly within three months and a new constitution which would be put to a referendum. The League foreign ministers also recommended "continuing the observer mission in Syria and cooperation with the U.N. Secretary General to reinforce their task." "Arab foreign ministers call for the release of detainees, a halt to all forms of violence and the facilitation of the observer mission's work," Sheikh Hamad said. "I urge the Syrian leadership to shoulder its responsibilities before God, its people and the Arab nation and to seek an end to the crisis," he added. Earlier on Sunday, the Arab League taskforce headed by Sheikh Hamad met behind closed doors to be briefed on the first month of the monitoring mission by its chief, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan. The monitors' report blamed both sides, the government and opposition, for the bloodshed, according to an Arab diplomatic source. It recommended an extension while cautioning that its observers would not be deployed indefinitely. The Arab observer mission in revolt-hit Syria was launched a month ago. In a statement late Saturday, Dabi said the mission's mandate was "to verify that the Syrian government has implemented the terms of an Arab League plan to solve the crisis, not to stop the bloodshed and violence." But the opposition Syrian National Council has been lobbying for U.N. intervention and said it would reveal "a counter-report" later on Sunday to try to discredit Dabi's account. The SNC said it also plans to send a delegation to the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... to press the Security Council for intervention. International pressure has been steadily growing on the regime of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, with more than 5,400 people killed since anti-government protests broke out last March, according to U.N. figures. The Arab League deployed observers in Syria on December 26, and there are presently about 165 monitors on the ground. The Local Coordination Committees, which organize anti-regime protests, said in a statement on Sunday that 976 people have since been killed in a bloody crackdown on dissent, despite the observer mission. The SNC has appealed to the Arab League to turn the Syria crisis over to the United Nations. Its chief Burhan Ghalioun met on Saturday with Arabi to lobby for scrapping the observer mission. Qatar has proposed that Arab troops be deployed in Syria, but Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... rules out the proposal.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Saudi Says Will Pull Observers from Syria Mission

2012-01-23

[An Nahar] Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Sunday Riyadh was pulling its observers from the widely criticized Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... observer mission to Syria because Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... had not kept its promises. Soddy Arabia "is withdrawing from the mission because the Syrian government has not respected any of the clauses" in the Arab plan aimed at ending the crisis there, he said according to the text of a statement he made at a ministerial meeting of the 22-member body in Cairo. Prince Saud also urged Arab nations to "seriously respect the decisions taken by the council of the vaporous Arab League to impose sanctions on Syria, in order to cause it to respect its commitments" to stop the violence. In November, the League slapped strong sanctions on Syria, the first time such severe measures had been taken against one of its own members, freezing commercial transactions with the government and its accounts in Arab states. "These sanctions are still valid, and we have not decided to lift them," Prince Saud said. Riyadh's move came as foreign ministers of the pan-Arab body met to hear the recommendations of a League panel that the organization extend its monitoring mission to Syria by a month. The panel was briefed earlier on the first month of the monitoring mission by its chief, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan. Dabi wants his mandate to be strengthened, not scrapped, a League official had said. The Dabi report blames both sides in Syria, the government and opposition, for the bloodshed, according to an Arab diplomatic source. It recommends extending the monitoring mission while cautioning that its observers would not be deployed indefinitely. The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... says that at least 5,400 people have been killed in a Syrian government crackdown since mid-March last year, when protests erupted against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes...

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

US using Qatar as a tool against Syria: pro-regime paper

2012-01-22

[Al Ahram] Qatar, which has called for Arab troops to deploy in crisis-hit Syria, is a "tool" being used by the United States against Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... , state newspaper Ath-Thawra newspaper reported on Saturday. The claim was made as Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... foreign ministers are to meet in Cairo on review an observer mission critics say has been unable to stem the violence in Syria. League officials have voiced satisfaction with the mission's progress so far. "It is clear that Qatar, disappointed by the first report of the observers, has started to distance itself from the vaporous Arab League and the report expected" on Sunday, the paper wrote. The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, only has use for the observers if they give "their approval to put in place his plans, conforming with the obligations taken from Washington", the paper alleged. The emir told the US-television programme "60 Minutes" that Arab troops should deploy in Syria to "stop the killing," in an interview broadcast last Sunday. Syria has fiercely rejected the proposal. The paper accused Qatar of financing the armed snuffies that Damascus blames for fuelling 10 months of unrest that has claimed more than 5,400 lives, according to UN estimates. The paper charged that Washington does not want to be "directly implicated" in the Syria crisis and therefore "intends to turn Qatar into a tool to tear down" Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's regime. The head of the Arab League mission, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan, will present a report to Arab foreign ministers, after a meeting of the League's Syria crisis panel, which is chaired by Qatar.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria Opposition Lobbies for U.N. Intervention

2012-01-22

[An Nahar] Opposition Syrian National Council leaders on Saturday pressed the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... to turn the Syria crisis over to the U.N., but the League looked set to extend its own mission criticized for its failure to stem 10 months of killing. SNC chief Burhan Ghaliun met Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo and lobbied against the extension of the League's peace mission, SNC spokeswoman Basma Qadmani said. The SNC wants "the transfer of the Syria file to the U.N. Security Council," front man Mohammed Sermini told Agence La Belle France Presse in Cairo earlier, accusing the Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... regime of "committing genocide and crimes against humanity." But the vaporous Arab League is expected to extend its mission, even boosting the number of observers deployed, after foreign ministers hear on Sunday a report on the mission's first month of work. The report will be delivered by the mission's chief, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan, who believes his mandate needs to be strengthened, not scrapped, a League official said. Deputy Chief of operations, Ali Jarush, said Dabi is satisfied with the achievements of the operation so far and that "everything indicates that the observer mission in Syria will be extended by a month." "Dabi sees that in the last phase the necessary thrust (of the operation) was achieved after more monitors were deployed and fanned across 20 areas and after they were provided with equipment and logistics which they previously lacked, he said But the SNC charged that Dabi's report may not accurately reflect the situation in Syria. The report should make a clear difference between the victim and executioner," Sermini said, adding that "leaks" indicate that the report says monitors are unable to determine who is doing the killing. With officials headed for a weekend of meetings in the Egyptian capital, the killing in Syria continued on Saturday. Qatar has proposed that Arab troops be deployed in Syria to "stop the killing," but the proposal was vehemently rejected by Damascus and apparently by many Arab countries, as well, because they do not want the conflict "internationalized," diplomats said. Syria's state Ath-Thawra daily on Saturday accused Qatar of being a "tool" of the United States that is trying to bring down the Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... 's regime on orders from Washington. "It is clear that Qatar ... is trying to distance itself from Arab League and the report" that is expected to call for its renewal, the paper alleged. Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... on Friday urged the League "to publicly recognize that Syria has not respected the League's plan and work with the Security Council to increase pressure on the authorities and effectively curtail the use of fire power."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

13 Dead as Syrians Rally in Support of 'Revolution Prisoners'

2012-01-21

[An Nahar] Syrian security forces on Friday killed 13 people across the country, activists said, as pressure mounted on the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... to seek U.N. intervention in the face of growing frustration that the bloc's hard-won observer mission in Syria has failed to staunch 10 months of killing. Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... thousands of people poured out of mosques after Friday prayers to call for the ouster of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's The Scourge of Hama... regime, after choosing "Prisoners of the Revolution" as the slogan for this week's main protests. They are demanding that the government deliver on its promise to the vaporous Arab League to release tens of thousands of people tossed in the calaboose since protests first erupted in March. The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces rubbed out six people in the northwestern province of Idlib, three in the eastern protest hub of Deir al-Zour, two in the central opposition bastion Homs, one in the southern province of Daraa and another in the restive central province of Hama. As protests began in Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... in the north, the coastal Latakia and Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces were out in force. The Britannia-based group said there were festivities in Aleppo between security forces and dissidents and that demonstrators in Idlib had been fired on. The widely criticized League mission hangs in the balance as its head, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, prepares to report to Arab foreign ministers, who will decide on Sunday whether to extend it for a second month. Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said there was no sign of any let-up in the regime's crackdown despite the observers' presence, with activists reporting 506 civilians killed and another 490 jugged since the monitors deployed on December 26. The head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, headed to Cairo to lobby the Arab ministers to refer the observer mission's findings to the U.N. Security Council for tough action. Ghalioun planned to "ask the head of the Arab League and Arab foreign ministers to transfer the file on Syria to the U.N. Security Council with a view to securing a decision to establish a buffer zone and a no-fly zone" in Syria, an SNC statement said. The group, which has been strongly critical of the observer mission, said it would demand that Dabi pull no punches in his findings on the Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... regime's compliance with the Arab League agreement. "The SNC delegation will insist that the report contain a clear text concerning the 'genocide' and 'war crimes' carried out by the (Syrian) regime against unarmed civilians," the statement said. And HRW said "the Arab League should publicly recognize that Syria has not respected the League's plan and work with the Security Council to increase pressure on the authorities and effectively curtail the use of fire power." The League's panel on Syria is to meet on Saturday ahead of the foreign ministers' meeting. Its chair, Qatar, has called for Arab peacekeeping troops to be deployed in Syria, drawing a furious rejection from the Syrian government. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the Qatari proposal was not feasible. "In the present regional context we are not working towards such a scenario," he said in an interview published on Friday by the regional daily Ouest-La Belle France. "On the contrary, we are talking to the opposition," he added. But President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... insisted that La Belle France -- the former colonial power in Syria -- would not stand silently by in the face of a crackdown that the United Nations ...an organization whose definition of human rights is interesting, to say the least... estimates has killed more than 5,400 people since last March, 400 of them since the observers deployed. "We cannot accept the ferocious repression by the Syrian leadership of its people, a repression that has led the entire country into chaos, and a chaos that will help gunnies of all kinds," he said. Ahmad el-Tayyeb, the grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar, the highest seat of Sunni Moslem learning urged "Arab rulers to take the necessary measures to halt bloodshed in Syria," the state news agency MENA quoted him as saying on Friday. A tough Security Council resolution on Syria has been blocked by veto-wielding permanent members China and Russia. Moscow insists the opposition is as much to blame for the violence as the regime. Syria's Oil Minister Sufian Allaw acknowledged on Thursday that unilateral sanctions imposed on his government by the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and the United States were having a significant economic impact. "We have suffered important losses as a result of our inability to export crude oil and petroleum products," Allaw told a Damascus news conference, putting the losses from September 1 at more than $2 billion. Sanctions have also pushed the Syrian pound to record lows, and central bank governor Adib Malayeh has said Damascus will introduce a managed float of the currency next week, effectively devaluing it, the Financial Times reported.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria Monitors to Submit Report

2012-01-20

[An Nahar] The head of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... 's heavily criticized observer mission to Syria was due in Cairo on Thursday to report on its first month of operations amid growing frustration at its failure to staunch 10 months of bloodshed. The pan-Arab bloc's deputy leader, Ahmed Ben Helli, said the "decisive" report would evaluate the Syrian government's cooperation with the mission, while noting the observers' difficulty in gaining access to hot spots. "We are at a turning point, as the Arab observer mission's report will be presented on Thursday, marking a month since the protocol was signed," Ben Helli told Qatari state media late on Wednesday. "The report will be decisive," Ben Helli added. Arab foreign ministers will hear the mission's report at a meeting on Sunday at which they will decide whether to seek Syria's agreement to extend it for a second month. The first month expired on Thursday but the two sides agreed that the mission could continue until Sunday's meeting. The League's Syria operations chief, Adnan Khodeir, said mission leader General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi was expected at the League's headquarters in Cairo at around 6:30 pm (1630 GMT). He would then hand over the report to League chief Nabil al-Arabi, either later Thursday or early Friday, ahead of meetings of Arab ministers on Saturday and Sunday. Qatar, whose Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani chairs the vaporous Arab League panel on Syria which meets on Saturday, has been pressing for the observer mission to be given teeth through the deployment of Arab peacekeeping troops. The Qatari proposal is not formally on the agenda of Sunday's foreign ministers' meeting to discuss the mission's future but could be discussed, Khodeir said. "Any country that wishes can bring up the issue," he said, referring to the call by Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, to send Arab troops to Syria, which Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... has flatly rejected. "What we are talking about now at the Arab League is whether there will be a new approach concerning the observer mission," he told news hounds on Wednesday. Arabi has also said the idea could come up for debate. As activists reported another nine deaths at the hands of the Syrian security forces on Thursday, a coalition of some 140 Arab human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... groups demanded the withdrawal of the League's "flawed" mission and called for U.N. intervention. Among the dead, were four leading freedom fighters who had gone into hiding and were killed in an ambush in Idlib province in the northwest, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Arab mission, which currently numbers about 165 monitors, has been in Syria since December 26 to oversee an Arab road map under which Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... 's government agreed to end violence. "No observers have been able to do their job: instead, the mission legitimizes the Syrian regime," said Radwan Ziadeh, head of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies, in the rights groups' joint statement. Former observer Anouar Malek, who resigned in protest over the mission's credibility and aims, echoed Ziadeh's criticism. "I was threatened with death for doing my job as I watched people being killed, beaten up and set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock by police, soldiers and militiamen. The Syrian regime is plainly defying the Arab League," he said. The United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... estimates that the unrest in Syria between the security forces and freedom fighters has left more than 5,400 people dead since it first erupted in March, with 400 killed since the observers' deployment. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said it was clear that the observer mission was "in difficulty" and not being allowed to work. "Syria is not respecting the undertaking it gave to the Arab League to withdraw its troops to barracks," he said, adding that the observers' report should be submitted to the U.N. Security Council for further action. But a tough Security Council resolution on Syria has been blocked by veto-wielding permanent members Russia and China, which defended the Arab mission on Wednesday. "Since the Arab League observer mission began, the violence in Syria has not completely ended, but the security situation of major areas has improved," said Chinese foreign ministry front man Liu Weimin. This "shows the mission is effective," he added. For its part, Moscow has warned against Western calls for punitive measures against Damascus, insisting the Syrian opposition is as much to blame for the violence as the regime. That has caused growing frustration among Western governments. Germany's U.N. envoy Peter Wittig said the Security Council "did not live up to its responsibilities" in face of the vetoing by Moscow and Beijing last October of a European-drafted resolution that would have threatened Damascus with "targeted measures."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Two Arab League Observers Quit Syria

2012-01-13

[An Nahar] Two Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... monitors in Syria have quit, officials said on Thursday as the head of the operation accused an Algerian observer who resigned of making unfounded claims about the operation. "Two monitors have excused themselves, an Algerian and an Sudanese," Syria operations chief Adnan Khodeir said at Arab League headquarters in Cairo. He said that the Algerian monitor quit "for health reasons," while the Sudanese "was returning to his country for personal reasons." On Wednesday, Algerian Anwar Malek told Doha-based Al-Jazeera that he had quit the mission and accused the Syrian regime of committing a series of war crimes against its people and of duping his colleagues. But the head of the mission slammed Malek's claims as "baseless" because since his deployment to the flashpoint city of Homs in central Syria he stayed in his hotel room and did not join other observers in the field. "What observer Anwar Malek said on a satellite television is baseless," General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, former head of Sudanese military intelligence, who leads the operations in Syria, said in a statement. "Malek was deployed to Homs among a team but for six days he did not leave his room and did not join members of the team on the ground, pretending he was sick," Dabi said in the statement. He echoed remarks by an unnamed Arab League official who said Malek was bedridden throughout his assignment in Homs and his accusations unfounded. "What I saw was a humanitarian disaster. The regime isn't committing one war crime but a series of crimes against its people," the Algerian observer told Al-Jazeera. "The mission was a farce and the observers have been fooled. The regime orchestrated it and fabricated most of what we saw to stop the vaporous Arab League from taking action against the regime," he said. According to Dabi, the Algerian monitor requested leave for medical treatment in Gay Paree but departed before waiting for the green light. Meanwhile Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi told a private Egyptian television late Wednesday that reports he is receiving from Dabi on the mission are "extremely worrying." Earlier this week Arabi had warned that the mission launched on December 26 to end the Syrian regime's bloody crackdown on democracy protesters could be suspended, after three monitors were hurt in an attack.

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