Homs has borne the brunt of violent government-protester clashes Arab League ministers will meet this weekend to mull a response to Syria which wants the bloc to lift sanctions as its price to allow observers to monitor deadly unrest, an Arab diplomat said Thursday.
A taskforce chaired by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Al-Thani and comprising the foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Oman and Sudan will gather in Doha with Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi.
Syria said on Sunday it will allow observers into the country as part of an Arab peace plan to end months of violence, in a bid to avoid sweeping sanctions the bloc has decided to impose on the Damascus regime
But Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, in a letter to Arabi, said Syria would accept the monitors under certain conditions.
According to the text, published in the Syrian press on Tuesday, Muallem demanded the complete overturn of sanctions approved by the Arab League on Nov. 27.
“The government considers all decisions taken by the Arab League... including Syria’s suspension and the sanctions taken by the ministerial committee against it, to be null and void once Damascus signs the protocol” for observers, said the text.
Syria's opposition meanwhile warned on Friday that thousands of regime forces and loyalist militias have encircled the protest hub of Homs, poised to launch what may be a final bloody assault to crush dissent. The Syrian National Council said in a statement sent to AFP in Nicosia that President Bashar Al-Assad's regime was using the pretext of what it called a "terrorist" attack on an oil pipeline to overrun the central protest hub.
"The regime (is) paving the way to commit a massacre in order to extinguish the revolution in Homs," said the SNC, the principle umbrella organisation drawing together opponents of Assad's regime.
Homs, an important junction city of 1.6 million residents mainly divided along confessional lines, is a tinderbox of sectarian tensions that the SNC said the regime was trying to exploit.
"The regime has tried hard to ignite the sectarian conflict using many dirty methods, which have included bombing and burning mosques, torturing and killing young men, and kidnapping women and children," said the opposition group.
"The regime also took a significant step... in burning oil pipelines in the neighborhood of Baba Amr to blame what the regime calls 'armed gangs; in an attempt to crush the peaceful uprising on the pretext of a war on terrorism."
Witnesses on the ground in the city have reported a buildup of troops and pro-regime "Shabiha" militiamen backed by armoured vehicles who have set up more than 60 checkpoints, said the SNC.
"These are all signs of a security crackdown operation that may reach the level of a total invasion of the city," it said in the statement.
"We warn of the consequences of committing such a crime that could result in a massive number of casualties."
"We hold accountable the regime, and behind it the Arab League and the international community of what could happen to innocent civilians in the next few hours or days, and the implications for the region as a whole in the near future," said the SNC.
"The Syrian National Council also calls on all relevant international organisations and human rights organisations to take immediate action to pressure the international forums to provide immediate protection to civilians in Homs in particular, and throughout Syria in general."
The Assad regime's crackdown on dissent since mid-March has hit Homs particularly hard and activists say a great number of defecting soldiers have set up camp there to protect the protest movement.
An explosion that tore apart a pipeline taking crude to an oil refinery in Homs from eastern Syria, in an attack the regime blamed on "armed terrorist gangs."
But the Local Coordination Committees, which organises anti-regime protests, accused Assad's government of deliberately destroying the pipeline which serves a region seen as staunchly opposed to his rule.
Iraq, meanwhile, has said it will hold talks with Syria to implement the Arab League initiative, the bloc’s chief and Baghdad’s foreign minister said on Thursday.
“The Iraqi government told us that it will carry out contacts with the Syrian government to resolve this issue,” Arabi said at a joint news conference in Baghdad with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in comments carried by AFP.
“Now it is up to Syria; the ball is in the Syrian court. It’s up to them. If they want to stop the economic sanctions, they (must) sign,” said Arabi.
“We will exert efforts and discuss with the Syrian government how to remove all the obstacles facing this initiative,” Zebari added.
Last month, nineteen Arab League members voted for economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to tackle the Syrian government’s deadly crackdown on protests, but Iraq abstained and said it would refuse to implement them, while Lebanon “disassociated itself,” Qatar’s Sheikh Hamad said on November 27.
Iraq’s close trade ties with Syria, from which it imports significant amounts of foodstuffs, had been a major player in their refusal of the sanctions.
The sanctions included an immediate freeze on transactions with Damascus and its central bank and of Syrian regime assets in Arab countries.
The Arab bloc also requested that international observers were sent to monitor the unrest, which has left more than 4,000 people have been killed across Syria since the unrest in Syria erupted in mid-March, according to United Nations estimates.
But in an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters on Wednesday the embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said he will not allow Arab League observers unfettered access to monitor the crackdown.
Assad said: “They cannot just come and do whatever they want.” He said monitoring visits could only take place “in cooperation with the Syrian government.”
He also denied that the unrest in Syria amounted to a civil war.
Meanwhile, France, Britain and Germany want UN rights chief Navi Pillay to discuss Syria’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy supporters before the UN Security Council, diplomats said Thursday.
The council is planning a procedural vote to approve Pillay’s presentation, with passage requiring votes from nine of the council’s 15 members.
“It will be useful because it will allow the Security Council to examine its own responsibilities” with respect to the crisis, said a UN official speaking on condition of anonymity.
On October 4, the council failed to reach agreement on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown, with Russia and China using their veto while Brazil, India, South Africa and Lebanon abstained.