Syria spurns solutions by Arab League

Syria said yesterday it will spurn further Arab efforts to resolve its political crisis, as Gulf states piled on pressure by deciding to pull out their observers and urging strong UN action.

The Arab League said its monitors would be confined to base from today unless Damascus gives its approval for the mission to continue for a second month after an informal extension ran out.

“Enough of the Arab solutions from now,” Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said, accusing the Arabs of “plotting” to internationalise the crisis and taking decisions while “knowing that they will be rejected” by Damascus.

His remarks came after the pan-Arab bloc called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to his deputy and to clear the way for a unity government within two months, in a surprise weekend announcement.

“We do not want Arab solutions. We said that two days ago when we refused the initiative and when the ministers’ council decided to turn to the Security Council,” said Mr Muallem. “We categorically refused (this proposal).

“The solution is a Syrian one based on the interests of the Syrian people... based on the completion of the reform programme proposed by President Bashar al-Assad,” he told a televised news conference.

Mr Muallem said Syria had no choice but to confront armed groups that the government blames for the violence which the UN says has killed more than 5,400 people since March.

“It is the duty of the Syrian government to take the necessary measures to address the problem of those armed elements who are wreaking havoc throughout Syria,” he said, stressing Russia would never accept foreign intervention.

“No one can doubt the strength of the Russian-Syrian relationship,” based on their history and the interests of both peoples, he said.

Activists who accuse Mr Assad’s regime of killing peaceful protesters said security forces stormed the central city of Hama yesterday as they pressed their bloody crackdown.

“Syrian troops are storming the city from its southern and western entrances,” Saleh al-Hamwi, a spokesman of the General Revolution Commission said.

Tanks were being deployed around Baba Qibli neighbourhood, where massive protests have been staged and where mutinous soldiers of the Free Syrian Army have been hiding out, he added.