Arab League Urges Syria to End Violence, Says Observer Mission to Continue

Arab ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday gave observers in Syria the green light to continue their mission and called for an "immediate" end to the violence there.

The Arab ministerial committee on Syria "has decided to give Arab League observers the necessary time to continue their mission according to the protocol," which states that the mission is for the duration of one month.

The committee "calls on the Syrian government and all armed groups to immediately stop all acts of violence," it said in its final statement.

The head of the mission, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, is to give a report on the League on January 19 on Syria's compliance of the plan, the ministers said.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, who chaired the meeting, called on Syria to "take a historic decision."

"We hope there will be decisive steps by the Syrian government to stop the bloodshed," Sheikh Hamad told reporters after the meeting.

He said a report by the observers discussed at the meeting showed that "killing has been reduced. But even one killing (is too much)."

The Arab body stopped short of asking for U.N. help, but said that Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi would "continue coordinating with the United Nations Secretary General to reinforce the Arab League mission's technical aspects."

Hamad said the League hoped to raise the number of observers to 300 "within the next few days" from around 163 now deployed in Syria.

Earlier on Sunday, an Arab League source said the first report by observers in Syria recommends the controversial mission continue and says monitors were subjected to "harassment" by the government and the opposition.

The report recommends "the mission continue its work" with more technological assistance and "calls on the opposition and the government to let the mission move freely," the source told reporters.

The Arab diplomat was speaking as Dabi was briefing Arab ministers in Cairo on the results of the monitors' visit.

A team of Arab League monitors has been in Syria since December 26, trying to assess whether President Bashar al-Assad's regime is complying with a peace accord aimed at ending its deadly crackdown on dissent.

Critics say it has been completely outmaneuvered by the government and has failed to make any progress towards stemming the crackdown. They have called for the mission to pull out.

The report said the observers had been "subjected to harassment by the Syrian government and by the opposition."

Monitors said that military vehicles had been stationed in most cities they visited.

The report said that some observers saw bodies on the street, and that the government and opposition had traded blame over who was behind the killings, the source said.

The document also confirms the release of hundreds of prisoners but says the monitors could not identify whether they were political detainees, the source added.

The Arab ministers met to review the record of the widely criticized observer mission amid growing calls for the bloc to cede to the United Nations the lead role in trying to end nearly 10 months of bloodshed.

Arab League Assistant Secretary General Ahmed Ben Hilli said the meeting was aimed at discussing the monitors' first report which contains "pictures, maps and information of the events witnessed by the monitors on the ground."

Mission chief Dabi -- a Sudanese former military intelligence chief who is himself the focus of controversy -- said it was too early to judge the mission.

"This is the first time that the Arab League has carried out such a mission," Dabi told Britain's Observer newspaper. "But it has only just started, so I have not had enough time to form a view."

The Arab League has admitted to "mistakes" but defended the mission, saying it had secured the release of prisoners and withdrawal of tanks from cities.

On Saturday, Syria held funerals for 26 victims of a suicide bombing in Damascus, promising an "iron fist" response.

The opposition pointed the finger for Friday's bomb at the regime itself, as it did after similar attacks in Damascus on December 23 killed 44 people.

Violence in Syria on Saturday claimed the lives of 21 civilians, 17 by security force fire and four by a rocket targeting a pro-regime demonstration, the Observatory said.

The Assad regime has consistently asserted that the unrest sweeping the country is the work of armed rebels, not largely peaceful demonstrators as maintained by Western governments and human rights watchdogs.

After the Damascus bombing, the United States condemned it and again called for Assad to step down, while U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said "all violence is unacceptable and must stop immediately."

The Syrian National Council, an opposition umbrella group which includes the Muslim Brotherhood, said the bombing "clearly bears the regime's fingerprints."

It said the U.N. Security Council had to address the bloodshed, which the world body estimated in December had killed more than 5,000 people since March.

The SNC said "a joint effort between the Arab League and the United Nations Security Council represents a first step toward the urgent and necessary measures to assure the protection of civilians, and to ensure that the regime does not commit additional bombings and killings."

So far veto-wielding Security Council permanent members Beijing and Moscow have blocked efforts by Western governments to secure U.N. action against Damascus.

On Sunday, a large Russian naval flotilla led by an aircraft carrier was docked in the Syrian port of Tartus in what state media hailed as a show of solidarity by its Cold War ally.