Syria 'positive' toward Arab requests
Source: Agencies |
December 6, 2011, Tuesday
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SYRIA has "responded positively" to an Arab League request to send observers to the country as part of a peace plan to end the nation's eight-month crisis, its foreign ministry said yesterday.
But there appeared to be serious stumbling blocks. Syria has demanded that the Arab League scrap recent decisions taken against Damascus - including economic sanctions and suspending the country from the league - when the protocol is signed.
"We are waiting for the Arab League's response and that all decisions taken by the league in Syria's absence be annulled," foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told reporters in Damascus.
Syria's top diplomat, Walid al-Moallem, "responded positively" to the league and sent a letter to the organization's chief Nabil Elaraby on Sunday night, Makdissi said.
He said al-Moallem's message contained some "minor amendments that won't affect the essence of the plan."
There was no immediate reaction from the Arab League.
Syrian President Bashar Assad is under mounting international pressure to end crackdown on an uprising that the UN says has killed more than 4,000 people.
Syria's failure to meet a November 25 deadline to allow in observers drew Arab League sanctions, including a ban on dealings with the country's central bank and a freeze on government assets.
The bloc also imposed a travel ban on 19 Syrian officials, including Assad's younger brother Maher, who is believed to be in command of much of the crackdown, as well as cabinet ministers, intelligence chiefs and security officers. The list does not include the president himself.
Together with sanctions from the United States, the European Union and Turkey, the Arab League's penalties are expected to inflict significant damage on Syria's economy.
Damascus remains defiant, however, and has shown few signs of easing its campaign against dissent. Activists said security forces killed at least seven people yesterday, most in the central province of Homs.
Over the weekend, the military held exercises to test "the capabilities and the readiness of missile systems to respond to any possible aggression," state-run TV said.
In October, Assad warned the Middle East "will burn" if the West intervenes and threatened to turn the region into "tens of Afghanistans."
Syria is known to have surface-to-surface missiles capable of hitting deep inside its arch-enemy Israel.
State-run news agency SANA quoted Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha as telling the forces that participated in the maneuvers "to be in full readiness to carry out any orders give to them."
But there appeared to be serious stumbling blocks. Syria has demanded that the Arab League scrap recent decisions taken against Damascus - including economic sanctions and suspending the country from the league - when the protocol is signed.
"We are waiting for the Arab League's response and that all decisions taken by the league in Syria's absence be annulled," foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told reporters in Damascus.
Syria's top diplomat, Walid al-Moallem, "responded positively" to the league and sent a letter to the organization's chief Nabil Elaraby on Sunday night, Makdissi said.
He said al-Moallem's message contained some "minor amendments that won't affect the essence of the plan."
There was no immediate reaction from the Arab League.
Syrian President Bashar Assad is under mounting international pressure to end crackdown on an uprising that the UN says has killed more than 4,000 people.
Syria's failure to meet a November 25 deadline to allow in observers drew Arab League sanctions, including a ban on dealings with the country's central bank and a freeze on government assets.
The bloc also imposed a travel ban on 19 Syrian officials, including Assad's younger brother Maher, who is believed to be in command of much of the crackdown, as well as cabinet ministers, intelligence chiefs and security officers. The list does not include the president himself.
Together with sanctions from the United States, the European Union and Turkey, the Arab League's penalties are expected to inflict significant damage on Syria's economy.
Damascus remains defiant, however, and has shown few signs of easing its campaign against dissent. Activists said security forces killed at least seven people yesterday, most in the central province of Homs.
Over the weekend, the military held exercises to test "the capabilities and the readiness of missile systems to respond to any possible aggression," state-run TV said.
In October, Assad warned the Middle East "will burn" if the West intervenes and threatened to turn the region into "tens of Afghanistans."
Syria is known to have surface-to-surface missiles capable of hitting deep inside its arch-enemy Israel.
State-run news agency SANA quoted Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha as telling the forces that participated in the maneuvers "to be in full readiness to carry out any orders give to them."
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