Report: Lebanon to Join Arab League Observer Mission to Syria

Lebanon decided to join a team of observers to monitor a plan aimed at ending a nine-month revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime in response to a request by Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour received a written request from al-Arabi inviting Lebanon to join the observer mission, the daily said.

It reported that the Lebanese delegation will be formed of five military figures, and another five observers with expertise in legal and administrative affairs and human rights.

According to the newspaper, Mansour will propose the “nature of the delegation’s mission” to the cabinet.

An advance team of observers would head to Damascus on Thursday to lay the ground for monitors overseeing the plan to which Syria agreed on Monday.

Diplomatic sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that Lebanon will decide whether it will join the Arab League mission on Wednesday or Thursday.

They noted that the observer mission team will be formed by the end of this week.

The mission is part of the Arab peace plan endorsed by Syria on November 2, which also calls for a halt to violence, releasing detainees and the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts.

General Mohammed Ahmed Moustafa al-Dabi, former head of Sudanese military intelligence and state minister for security arrangements, would head the mission.

In an unprecedented move, the pan-Arab bloc has approved a raft of sanctions against Syria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly crackdown on protesters.

The sanctions include freezing government assets, suspending cooperation with Syria's central bank and halting funding for projects in the country.

Lebanon, whose government is dominated by the pro-Syrian Hizbullah, disassociated itself from the vote at the Arab League.