Syria Requests Changes to Arab League Observer Mission

Syria's foreign minister has sent a letter to Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi requesting changes to a proposal to send a 500-strong delegation of observers to Damascus, the Arab body said on Friday.

The pan-Arab body had agreed to send 500 members of human rights groups, media representatives and military observers to Syria, which said it would welcome them to see the situation on the ground and help implement a peace plan.

Walid al-Muallem sent Arabi the letter on Thursday calling for amendments to the proposal, the Arab League said, without disclosing what they were.

"These amendments are currently being studied," Arabi said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Arab leaders gave Syrian President Bashar Assad three days to halt his "bloody repression" of protests or risk sanctions.

The 22-member bloc voted at an extraordinary meeting in Cairo on Saturday to suspend Syria until Assad implements an Arab deal to end the crackdown, which has left at least 3,500 people dead since March, according to U.N. figures.