WarSclerotic

BBC News – Syria condemns Arab League move to suspend monitoring.

he Syrian government has condemned a decision by the Arab League to suspend its monitoring mission inside Syria.

The Arab League said the move was prompted by a dramatic increase in violence in recent days, but Syria accused it of trying to increase pressure for foreign intervention.

The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution on Syria.

An Arab League delegation will travel to New York this week to address Security Council members.

Syria said it was surprised that the mission had been suspended and that it was a matter of “regret”.

“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,” a Syrian official told the state channel, Syria TV.

The Arab League mission was established in December to monitor Syria’s compliance with a plan to end the bloodshed during the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Arab countries voted on Tuesday to extend the mission for another month.

Since then conservative estimates say about 200 people have been killed.

‘Critical deterioration’

As the violence escalated several countries – including Saudi Arabia – decided to withdraw their observers, and on Saturday the Arab League suspended the mission altogether.

The organisation says its monitors will remain at their hotels inside Syria for the time being.

“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,” Secretary General Nabil el-Arabi said in a statement.

He said the issue would now be discussed at the league’s council.

The Syrian opposition says the monitors were being used by Damascus to buy it time.

Protest call

The diplomatic focus now seems to be switching to the UN Security Council, with speculation that it may vote on a draft resolution on Syria in the coming days – although Russia still opposes the move.

The council met earlier this week to discuss the document drafted by Arab states, the UK, France and Germany.

Those countries supported the league’s call for President Assad to hand power to a deputy, who would form a national unity government with the opposition within two months.

The draft resolution also calls for further measures if the Syrian government does not comply.

But Russia, an ally of Mr Assad, has said it will not back the text.

Mr Arabi is due to address the Security Council on Tuesday. He has also been talking directly to Russian officials to try to persuade them to drop their opposition.

Meanwhile, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) urged Syria’s diaspora across the world to stage protests outside Russia’s diplomatic missions, the AFP news agency reports.

The UN says more than 5,000 people have been killed since protests against the government of President Assad first erupted last March.

Syrian officials say about 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed in the unrest, which has become increasingly violent as defectors from the army join the opposition.

These claims have not been independently verified.

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