Syria to admit observers as part of Arab League plan

SYRIA has said it will accept observers as part of an Arab League plan to end deadly unrest if its conditions are met, in a last-ditch bid to stave off crippling sanctions.

“The Syrian government responded positively to the signing of the protocol” on sending observers “based on the Syrian understanding of this cooperation”, foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi told reporters.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said he received a letter from Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem outlining his government’s about-face, which contained “new demands”.

“We’ve contacted Arab foreign ministers and they have been apprised of the Syrian letter,” Arabi said, adding consultations were underway. Muallem had sent the letter late on Sunday as a League deadline was set to expire.

Damascus has refused to sign the proposal, arguing the text undermines its sovereignty, prompting the Arab League to impose sweeping sanctions on Syria last month.

In its letter to the Arab League, Syria has asked for “minor changes which do not touch on the substance of the protocol and for clarifications that are not linked to the nature of the mission”, Makdisi said.

“We asked them for the names and nationalities of the observers,” he said.

“We hope for a positive reply. The success of this mission depends on Arab intentions.”

The Arab bloc warned of new punitive measures against Syria unless it allows monitors access to the country where the UN estimates a crackdown on anti-regime protests has killed more than 4,000 people since March.

The international community wants monitors in Syria to keep a check on President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, who have been accused by the UN of human rights abuses.

At least seven more civilians were killed yesterday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, after a bloody weekend during which 63 people died.

The group also reported that mutinous soldiers killed four members of the security forces, including an officer, at the southern protest hub of Dael in Daraa province.

It also accused security forces of arresting 18 students, eight in a school in the coastal town of Jabla, for allegedly insulting the president, and others near Damascus for joining an anti-regime protest.

In the flashpoint province of Homs, pro-regime Shabiha militiamen abducted a bus driver and his 13 passengers, it said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression said authorities arrested blogger Razan Ghazzawi at the border with Jordan as she headed to Amman on Sunday to represent them at a workshop on press freedom.