DAMASCUS – Syria has “categorically rejected” an Arab League resolution calling for a joint Arab-UN peacekeeping mission to end the country’s 11-month conflict, the BBC said. Yusuf Ahmed, Syria’s envoy in Cairo, said the plan “reflected the hysteria of these governments”.
The EU on Monday backed the Arab League’s “bold” plan but Russia said violence must end before any peacekeepers could be sent. The UN General Assembly was set for a key debate on the crisis in Syria.
The Arab League said it was ending all diplomatic co-operation with Syria, and promised to give “political and material support” to the opposition. The League’s moves come a week after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, which would have endorsed a previous Arab League peace initiative.
Russia said on Monday that it was studying the plan but that it needed “clarification”. In a possible shift in Russia’s position on Syria, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country “is ready to promote a regional security agreement between Gulf countries jointly with U.N. Security Council permanent members. Together with other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, we are ready to promote the dialogue and an agreement on regional security between all countries of the Gulf,” CNN said.
