Syria rejects call for Assad to quit

Syria has rebuffed as a “conspiracy” an Arab League call for president Bashar al-Assad to step down in favour of a unity government to calm a 10-month-old revolt in which thousands of Syrians have been killed.

Lebanese foreign minister Adnan Mansour criticised the move, saying its ministers had taken an “unbalanced” approach to the crisis by disregarding violence perpetrated by Assad’s opponents.

Damascus has not rejected the League’s decision to keep Arab observers in Syria one month longer, Mansour said, even though critics say their presence has not stemmed the bloodshed and only bought more time for Assad to crush his opponents.

Many Syrians remain defiant, however. Tens of thousands turned out in the Damascus suburb of Douma yesterday under the protection of rebel Free Syrian Army fighters to mourn 11 people killed by the security forces, activists and a resident said.

Security forces, keen to avoid a confrontation, stayed outside the area, where fighting had erupted overnight.

The Sudanese general who heads the monitoring mission said violence had dipped in the past month, contradicting accounts by Syrian activists who say at least 600 people were killed.