Arab League: 'No Flicker of Hope' for Syria Envoy

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Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said Monday that Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi's mission had not brought a "glimmer of hope" in ending the bloodshed, and urged U.N. action to enforce a ceasefire.

"All contacts (with the warring sides and international actors) made by Brahimi have thus far not yielded a glimmer of hope to end this crisis," Arabi told leaders meeting for an Arab League economic summit in Riyadh.

The head of the 22-member bloc urged the Arab leaders to call "the U.N. Security Council for an immediate meeting and to issue a resolution enforcing a ceasefire to stop the bloodbath".

He also called for an "international monitoring force to make sure that fighting has stopped".

More than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict that erupted in March 2011 as a popular uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad, according to U.N. figures.

Syria slammed Brahimi as biased and described his mission as "useless".

"It is clear that Brahimi is now out of the loop for the solution for Syria. He has taken sides, he is not a mediator," wrote the pro-regime daily al-Watan on Sunday.

"Brahimi is incapable of finding a solution to the Syrian crisis."

The veteran Algerian troubleshooter had criticized as "one-sided" a proposal by Assad to end the crisis.

Moscow, a staunch ally of the Assad regime, said Monday it was sending two planes to Lebanon to evacuate more than 100 Russians from Syria.

The Kremlin has used its veto power in the Security Council to block three resolutions which would have brought sanctions against Assad.

Monitors said Syrian warplanes on Monday launched raids on two towns east of Damascus, while the army shelled and deployed new reinforcements to the rebel-held town of Daraya, as part of its bid to quell the insurgency in the outskirts of Damascus once and for all.

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