Arabi: Arab League May Debate Sending Troops to Syria

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said on Sunday that a ministerial meeting this week could discuss a Qatari proposal to send Arab troops to unrest-hit Syria.

"All ideas will be open for discussion," he told reporters in Manama when asked if Saturday's meeting will debate the proposal by Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

In an interview to be aired on U.S. television, Sheikh Hamad said he favors sending Arab troops to Syria to stop Damascus' bloody crackdown on 10 months of anti-regime protests.

Sheikh Hamad is the first Arab leader to call publicly for Arab troops to be deployed in Syria, where the U.N. estimates more than 5,000 people have been killed in the crackdown since mid-March last year.

The comments by the emir, whose wealthy nation once enjoyed cordial ties with Damascus, come with the Arab League set to review the work of its Syria monitoring mission, amid increasing concern about its failure to end the violence.

According to a U.N. official, 400 people have been killed since the beginning of the Arab League mission to the crisis-hit country on December 26.

Former Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa also said on Sunday the League should consider sending troops to Syria.

However, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki said in an interview published on Sunday he opposed foreign military intervention in Syria, saying it would spark an "explosion" across the entire Middle East.

"Such intervention would signify that the war will spread across the whole region, opening the way to all powers, following the example of Turkey, Israel, Iran and Hizbullah. That would mean the whole region exploding," he said.