Gulf states to withdraw Syria observers after Saudi pullout

Gulf states to withdraw Syria observers after Saudi pullout Gulf states are set to follow Saudi Arabia's lead by withdrawing their observers from Syria, Kuwaiti newspapers reported on Tuesday, citing diplomatic sources. The Gulf Cooperation Council states will also take part in a high-level Arab delegation that will visit Russia to press Moscow to end its support for Bashar  Al-Assad's regime, Kuwait's Al-Qabas daily reported, quoting diplomats.
The dailies Al-Qabas and As-Seyassah said foreign ministers from the six-nation GCC met in Cairo following the Arab League meeting Sunday and decided to withdraw their observers.
There was however no mention of when the observers would depart.
The GCC "countries are moving towards pulling all their monitors" out of Syria, Al-Qabas reported, because they don't want observers to stay "false witnesses to the crimes committed against civilians by the Syrian regime."
Syria was "exploiting observers to temper a solution to the crisis," the newspaper quoted officials as saying.
Saudi Arabia, the largest GCC member, decided on Sunday to pull its observers from a widely criticised Arab League mission to Syria. Other GCC members include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said Riyadh "is withdrawing from the mission because the Syrian government has not respected any of the clauses" in the Arab plan aimed at ending the crisis.
Assad’s troops have cracked down on protests against almost five decades of Baath rule which kicked off mid-March, killing a UN estimate of over 5,400 people and drawing widespread international condemnation.
 Global human rights group Amnesty International said that the mission's findings have put more pressure on the Assad regime to implement reform and cease violence.
The mission’s observers were reported to have submitted a field report to the Arab League on the first four weeks of their work, citing clear evidence of human rights violations by the Syrian government that was supposedly consistent with Amnesty International’s own findings.
The full report has not been made public.
“The Arab League mission’s report has bolstered the case that the international community must take strong action to end the grave human rights violations committed in Syria since last March,” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s interim Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.
“The arguments of countries that have blocked action on Syria at the UN Security Council sound increasingly hollow – the Security Council must now respond effectively by referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.”
In a speech responding to the findings, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi said the human rights violations by Assad’s government had led some members of the opposition to take up arms, leading to fears of a possible civil war.
The report cited some progress in granting limited media access and mentioned the release of some prisoners held in relation to widespread protests that began in March 2011.
The League has also reportedly obtained lists of those who were detained or disappeared, and urged the government to release those still being held and clarify the status of those who have gone missing.
“The true measure of the observer mission’s success will be whether its findings can successfully spur the international community to address the serious ongoing human rights concerns in Syria,” said Harrison.
The United Nations is also thought to be restricted by Russia and China's refusal to grant to lend full support to the Western offensive against Assad in the UN. It was also reported that Russia was selling 36 Yak-130 light attack aircraft to Damascus.
Moscow underlined Syria's strategic importance by sending an aircraft carrier into port at Tartous, the Russian navy's singular base on the Mediterranean.
The sale, reported by Moscow media, quoted experts saying it was both a show of support for Assad and a bid to restore Russia's reputation as an arms supplier in the Middle East after its refusal to sell Iran surface-to-air missiles.
Meanwhile, western members of the UN Security Council late Monday met with "like minded" Ambassadors from the Arab group and interested parties to seek a briefing in the Security Council later this week by Al-Arabi and the Chairman of the follow-up Committee on Syria Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassem.
It is hoped the officials would shed more light on the Arab peace initiative on Syria adopted in Cairo, Egypt, last Sunday, a diplomat told Kuwaiti news agency KUNA, Tuesday.
The diplomat said the western Council members want the briefing to take place by Thursday or Friday, to pave the way for the adoption in the Council next Monday of a western draft resolution that would express support for that initiative.
The representatives of Council members - the US, UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Colombia, and Guatemala - met at the British Mission to the UN late Monday with their counterparts from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Morocco - a Council member - and Turkey to coordinate the next steps regarding the crisis in Syria, including a Council invitation to the League officials to brief the members on their initiative.
According to the diplomat, a Qatari letter is on its way to the UN Secretary General about the Arab League peace plan on Syria adopted on Sunday in Cairo.
The Secretary General will forward the letter to the Council President, South Africa, which will circulate it to all Council members. Morocco, the Council's only Arab member, is expected to request the Council President at that time to issue the invitations to Al-Arabi and Sheikh Hamad to come to New York to brief the Council.
KUNA had reported on Monday that Russia wanted the Council President to invite the head of the League's monitoring group in Syria Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Al-Dabi of Sudan to brief the Council.
Al-Dabi gave mixed signals in his report to the league on Sunday on the work of the mission, whose mandate has been extended for another month.
The diplomat said western Council members "do not mind" Al-Dabi briefing the Council too, along with Al-Arabi and Sheikh Hamad.