WarSclerotic

Syria signals crackdown will continue – CBS News.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem holds a press conference in Damascus, Nov. 14, 2011. (Getty)

CBS/AP)

BEIRUT – Syria’s foreign minister has signaled that his country will continue its 10-month crackdown on dissent.

Walid al-Moallem said Tuesday it’s the duty of the government to take any steps it sees necessary to protect against chaos.

His news conference came one day after President Bashar Assad’s regime rejected an Arab-brokered plan to end the country’s bloodshed.

“They are carrying out an external plan,” al-Moallem said of the Arab League on Tuesday. “They knew from the very start that we would not accept their proposal because it is a blatant infringement on Syria’s sovereignty and a flagrant interference in the internal policy of the state.”

The plan calls for a unity government within two months, which would then prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held under Arab and international supervision.

Al-Moallem said Tuesday it was clear that some Arab countries have joined the conspiracy.

Syria blames the unrest that erupted in March 2011 on “terrorists” and armed gangs, which the regime claims are acting out a foreign conspiracy to destabilize the country, reports CBS News’ George Baghdadi.

Assad’s regime has responded to the uprising with a brutal crackdown that the U.N. says has left more than 5,400 people dead – most of them unarmed protesters.

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