Arab League Readies to Hand Syria Seat to Opposition as Lebanon Calls it 'Dangerous Step'

The Arab League said on Wednesday it is prepared to hand Syria's seat in the organisation to the opposition battling to oust President Bashar Assad if it sets up an executive body, as Lebanon expressed that it is a "dangerous step".

The League, in a resolution adopted at a meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo, called for the opposition National Coalition "to form an executive body to take up Syria's seat" and attend its next summit, in Doha on March 26-27.

The umbrella group would retain Syria's seat in the 22-member organisation "until elections leading to the formation of a government to assume the responsibilities of power in Syria," it said.

The call was based on "the sacrifices of the Syrian people and the exceptional circumstances" in the country.

Iraq and Algeria expressed reservations while Lebanon declined to be associated with the resolution, League chief Nabil al-Arabi told a news conference.

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour told the Lebanese MTV later on Wednesday that "granting Syria's National Coalition a seat at the Doha summit is a dangerous first of a kind step".

Meanwhile, the Syrian Foreign Ministry later on Wednesday accused the Arab League of fueling the crisis in the country by taking sides in the conflict and “financing terrorist organization and some factions in the opposition”.

"The League is seeking foreign military intervention and obstructing any political solution based on national dialogue,” a statement released by the ministry said.

Last year, with the death toll escalating in the anti-Assad revolt, the League recognized the National Coalition led by Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib as the "legitimate representative and main interlocutor with the Arab League."

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict since March 2011, according to the United Nations, which on Wednesday put the number of Syrian refugees at one million.