Syria Accuses Arab League of 'Internationalizing' Crisis
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem accused the Arab League on Saturday of "internationalizing" the deadly crisis hitting the country since pro-democracy protests began more than eight months ago.
The accusation came in a letter addressed to the Arab League as ministers from the group gathered in Cairo to draw up sanctions against Syria to punish President Bashar Assad's regime for defying an ultimatum to allow in observers and pressing a deadly crackdown.
On Thursday, Arab diplomats said the League would ask the United Nations to contribute observers to an international mission that Syria is refusing to admit to the country.
In a letter released to the state-run SANA news agency, Muallem said the call by the Arab League to U.N. Secretary General Bank Ki-moon was an invitation "for foreign intervention (in Syria) instead of a call to avoid one."
"What we understand by this latest Arab League decision is a tacit green light for the internationalization of the situation in Syria and to meddle in its domestic affairs," Muallem was quoted as saying.
Source: Agence France Presse
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