Arab League Urges U.N. Action to Protect Syrian Civilians
Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi said on Saturday he has asked the U.N. Security Council to take strong action in order to protect civilians in Syria.
"I sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council asking it to undertake all necessary measures to protect the Syrian people," Arabi told Agence France Presse shortly before the opening of a meeting of the ministerial committee on the Syrian crisis.
Asked if he had called for armed action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Arabi said: "I have not referred to military intervention."
In an interview published Friday in Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, the Arab League chief said he did not believe the international community was moving any closer to taking military action in Syria.
"Currently, there is no intention to intervene militarily," he said.
World powers have reacted with growing alarm at an escalation of bloodshed in Syria, especially since the Houla massacre of more than 100 people a week ago.
The violence has continued despite the presence on the ground of nearly 300 U.N. military observers.
The observers are deployed in Syria under a putative truce brokered by U.N. and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who is attending the pan-Arab bloc's meeting in Doha on Saturday.
Chaired by Qatar, the committee members also include Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
Source: Agence France Presse
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