Arab League halts Syria mission and seeks UN support

Arab League halts Syria mission as violence rages Damascus – Agencies The Arab League halted its observer mission in Syria on Saturday because of escalating violence that killed nearly 100 people the past three days, while an armed group attacked an oil pipeline in the eastern province of Deir Al-Zour, with a bomb blast that led to a huge fire, as Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi and Qatar prime minister are heading to New York, Sunday, to seek UN support for an Arab plan to end Syria's crisis.
Nabil al-Arabi, said Saturday that after discussions with Arab foreign ministers, the 22-member body had decided to suspend the monitors’ mission in Syria because of “a severe deterioration in the situation and the continued use of violence.’’ A final decision about the mission’s future is due in the coming days.
Al-Arabi blamed the Syrian government for the bloodshed, saying that it has decided “to escalate the military option in complete violation of its commitments to the Arab plan’’ and added that “innocent citizens’’ were the victims. The Syrian government has denied that it is facing a popular uprising, insisting instead that it has been battling armed terrorist groups funded by foreign interests.
Syria TV cited a government official as saying Syria was surprised by the decision, which would “put pressure on (Security Council) deliberations with the aim of calling for foreign intervention and encouraging armed groups to increase violence.”
Al-Arabi’s deputy, Ahmed Ben Heli, said about 100 monitors would remain in Damascus in the meantime.
European countries said the withdrawal highlighted the need for U.N. action. France’s foreign minister contacted his Russia counterpart in a bid to overcome Moscow’s resistance to the draft resolution officially presented on Friday, diplomats said.
At the same context, Arab league announced in a statement that Nabil al-Arabi and the prime minister of Qatar are heading on Sunday to New York to seek UN support for an Arab plan to end Syria's crisis.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the Syrian National Council (SNC), led by Burhan Ghalioun, is set to head for the U.N. Security Council to ask for international protection for the Syrian people against the massacres committed by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Previously, European and Arab nations called on the U.N. Security Council to back a resolution supporting the Arab League’s plan to end the 10-month-old political crisis in Syria. But, Russia has expressed concerns about the new text.
Following a lengthy closed-door discussion Friday afternoon on a draft resolution proposed by council members Morocco, Britain and France, Russia’s Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the new text ignores what he called Moscow’s “red lines” where they could not go.
“The red lines included any indications of sanctions, the red lines included any sort of imposition of arms embargo - because we know how in real life arms embargo means you supply arms to illegal groups but you cannot supply weapons to the government - we cannot accept that," he said. "Unfortunately, the draft we saw today did not only ignore our red lines but also added some new elements which we find unacceptable as a matter of principle.”
The Russian envoy said the Arab League plan, which includes the transfer of power from President Bashar al-Assad to a deputy in preparation for multi-party elections, imposes a certain outcome of political dialogue before that dialogue even starts.
“We need to concentrate on establishing political dialogue," he said. "The Arab League may have its ideas about where that political dialogue should go, they are free to express those ideas, but certainly the Security Council cannot be a tool to impose specific solutions on countries, including in this particular situation, Syria.”
He said Moscow does not see the new draft text as one on which they could agree, but said they would be willing to engage in negotiations.  
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, meanwhile, called for the United Nations to quickly issue a resolution on Syria, which has seen a spike in violence against anti-regime protesters.
“A clear reaction from the U.N. Security Council is becoming more and more urgent,” Westerwelle said in a statement.
He also called on countries that had not yet spoken out against escalating violence in Syria to do so.
France’s Foreign Minister Alain Juppe sent a message to Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday “to emphasize the importance of constructive cooperation between France and Russia” on Syria, French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in a statement.
For his part, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant rejected his colleague's objections, saying the proposed text does not include an arms embargo or sanctions, nor does it call for regime change. He noted that it also includes some language from an earlier Russian proposed draft resolution on the subject. Essentially, Lyall Grant said, the new resolution simply supports the Arab League’s efforts to end the crisis.
“Frankly, the time has come where we should be supporting the Arab League’s efforts," he said. "They took a very strong, binding decision on the Arab League members at the weekend. They have come with a credible plan that involves dialogue, a political transition, and we believe that we should support it.”
Lyall Grant said negotiations on the text would begin Monday and he hoped to have a vote on the measure next week, possibly as early as Wednesday.
Regarding the developments on the ground, activists and residents have reported heavy clashes between security forces loyal to the government and opposition armed fighters Saturday on the outskirts of Damascus and in southern Syria, which led to 98 killed people.
The Arab League observers traveled yesterday morning to Rankous, a restive city near the border with Lebanon from which the government has had to withdraw its troops. The observers never made it inside. One of the members of the team said that Syrian army officers had told them it was too dangerous because snipers and gunmen were menacing the town.
During a visit to Rankous by reporters after the observers left, residents and fighters who said they were with the Free Syrian Army opposition militia told a different story. They said that the army, which had surrounded the town of 23,000 people with tanks, had been shelling for days. Most of the residents had fled.
Soon after reporters arrived in the center of Rankous, tanks could be seen taking up positions on the outskirts. Within about an hour, shelling and heavy machine-gun fire could be heard. The Free Syrian Army fighters said government snipers were surrounding the town.
In another context, Syria's Oil Ministry said on Saturday that an armed group attacked an oil pipeline in the eastern province of Deir Al-Zour, with a bomb blast that led to a huge fire.
The explosion severed the pipeline, which was transporting oil from the Al-Omar oilfield. The oilfield is administered by Al-Furat Petroleum Company, of which the government owns a 50 per cent stake.
Around 2,000 barrels of oil were lost in the incident, however, production did not come to a halt as the oilfield is equipped with backup lines, said a ministry official.
The main lines are expected to be fixed in two days' time, added the official.
The pipeline has been attacked several times since the start of the conflict in the country.