Arab League halts observer mission in Syria

Given the deteriorating situation in Syria and the continuous use of violence, the Arab League (AL) decided to suspend its observer mission in Syria, head of AL's monitoring operation room in Cairo said on Saturday.

"The AL decided to temporarily suspend its observer mission in Syria to protect observers from increasing violence," Adnan al- Khodair said, adding that the decision was made by AL chief Nabil al-Arabi, not by Arab foreign ministers.

In a statement issued later, the AL chief Nabil al-Arabi asked observers to immediately halt their operation in Syria until the AL ministerial council makes their decision.

Arabi gave instructions to the head of the observer mission to take all necessary procedures to guarantee the safety and security of observers.

The decision was made given the deteriorating situation in Syria and the continuous use of violence. Syrian government escalated the violence, which was in complete contradiction to the new Arab initiative and the observers' protocol, the AL statement said.

The violence, with an increase of victims, deviated the observers from the nature of their mission which was to make sure that Syrian government abide by its pledges in accordance with the protocol.

Moustafa al-Dabi, head of the AL observer mission in Syria, said in a statement Friday that the wave of violence in Syria had dramatically escalated in recent days, especially in Homs, Idlib, and Hama.

The status quo could not create appropriate conditions for achieving the AL ministerial council's decisions about pushing all parties to sit for negotiations, he added.

Syria's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday Damascus accepted the AL' s request of extending the Arab observers' mission in Syria for another month. But on Sunday, Damascus rejected a new Arab initiative which urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to delegate power to his first vice president.

The AL observers are currently monitoring the situation in Syria as part of the AL peace initiative to end the months-long turmoil there.

The Syrian government says that the turmoil in Syria is plotted by terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs. It said more than 2, 000 army and security personnel were killed during the months-long unrest, while the United Nations put the death toll in the country at more than 5,000.