Arab League

RANKOUS, Syria - The Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria on Saturday, saying that a harsh new government crackdown made it too dangerous to proceed and was resulting in the deaths of innocent people across the country. The head of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, said in a statement Saturday that after discussions with Arab foreign ministers, the 22-member body had decided to suspend the monitors' mission in Syria because of "the continued use of violence. " A final decision about the mission's future is due in the coming days.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Activists accused the Syrian regime Wednesday of misleading Arab League observers by taking them to areas loyal to the government, changing street signs to confuse them, and sending regime supporters into rebellious neighborhoods to give false testimony. The monthlong observer mission, which started Dec. 27, offers a rare outside glimpse into a country where a government crackdown on a nine-month-old uprising has killed more than 5,000 people. But there are fears that Assad loyalists have corrupted the observer process beyond repair.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Arab League demanded Sunday that the Syrian government immediately stop all violence and allow more monitors in, as activists reported at least 10 more civilians were killed, including two teenagers, by regime forces. Fierce clashes in the south between government troops and military defectors left 11 soldiers dead, activists said. The Arab League also called on other armed parties to halt all bloodshed, an apparent reference to the defectors. Qatar's foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassei Bin Jabr al-Thani, said the Arab ministers did not agree to call for U.N. experts to join the observers' mission in Syria, but he said U.N. experts would train the monitors in Cairo before they leave.

THIS WEEK, delegates to the Arab League summit in Beirut, Lebanon, discussed Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's Middle East peace initiative. What is the Arab League? The League of Arab States, as it is formally known, was founded in 1945 and considers itself the world's oldest regional organization. According to its Web site, its aims are "maximum integration among the Arab countries through coordination of their activities in the political sphere as well as in the fields of economics, social services, education, communications, development, technology and industrialization.

Arab League foreign ministers agreed in principle yesterday to move the organization's headquarters back to Cairo from Tunis, ending an 11-year arrangement prompted by Egypt's peace treaty with Israel. Egyptian Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel-Meguid announced the unanimous decision yesterday at a biannual Arab League session. Egypt's Middle East News agency reported the announcement in a dispatch from the Tunisian capital. Abdel-Meguid said the move would take place in September.

CAIRO - The Palestinian prime minister warned Sunday that his government could fail to meet its obligations to its people because of a cash crunch, and urged Arab countries to deliver on promised aid. Salam Fayyad met with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise the $100 million they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said seven countries have responded favorably, but he did not name them. League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo decided to dispatch a delegation to the region to raise the funds the Palestinian government needs to make ends meet.

The Arab League unanimously granted the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council a seat on the pan-Arab body early today, delivering a boost to the Bush administration's postwar occupation. The decision ended weeks of debate within the 22-member league over whether to recognize Iraq's interim authority, with opponents fearing that acceptance could be seen as a sign of support for the American invasion. The league had opposed the war in Iraq. In another development, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched a high-level diplomatic offensive to get feuding nations on the Security Council to unite behind a plan to stabilize Iraq.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - An Arab League committee on Thursday gave Syria 24 hours to agree to allow an observer mission into the country, or it could face sanctions that include stopping financial dealings and freezing assets. The bloodshed in the country continued, with activists reporting at least 15 people killed, including civilians and security forces. Thursday's threat was a humiliating blow to Damascus, a founding member of the Arab League. It comes as international pressure mounts on President Bashar al-Assad to stop the brutal crackdown on an uprising against his regime.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The head of the Arab League met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday to discuss ways of ending the bloodshed in the country, even as activists reported at least five people killed in the government's crackdown on a six-month-old uprising. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby was originally expected to visit Damascus on Wednesday, but the visit was delayed at Syria's request in what appeared to be a sign of the country's growing alarm over any outside criticism.

CAIRO - The Palestinian prime minister warned Sunday that his government could fail to meet its obligations to its people because of a cash crunch, and urged Arab countries to deliver on promised aid. Salam Fayyad met with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise the $100 million they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said seven countries have responded favorably, but he did not name them. League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo decided to dispatch a delegation to the region to raise the funds the Palestinian government needs to make ends meet.

CAIRO - At a meeting Monday, the Arab League chief urged exiled Syrian opposition figures to unite as a new Western effort to force President Bashar Assad from power faltered. Meanwhile, an additional 85 soldiers, including a general, fled to Turkey in a growing wave of defections. Turkey's state-run Andolou news agency said the group of defectors also included 14 other officers, ranging from a colonel to seven captains. It is one of the largest groups of Syrian army defectors to cross into Turkey since the uprising against Assad began.

BEIRUT - Gun battles between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in northern Lebanon killed at least seven people and wounded 22 on Saturday, security officials said, as activists reported fresh shelling in a region in central Syria where a massacre last week left more than 100 people dead. The clashes were the latest to hit the Lebanese port of Tripoli. Repeated outbreaks of violence in the city, the country's second largest, are seen as spillover from the conflict in neighboring Syria and have raised fears of an escalation in sectarian tensions in Lebanon.

PARIS - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Thursday for the U.N. Security Council to adopt an arms embargo and other tough measures against Syria to try to halt 13 months of bloodshed, but she acknowledged that such diplomatic actions would likely be vetoed. Clinton's comments to Western and Arab diplomats from the so-called "Friends of Syria" group came as the head of the United Nations accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of failing to honor a peace plan that went into effect a week ago. In a transcript of her remarks on the State Department's website, Clinton stopped short of calling for outside military intervention in Syria - something there is little to no foreign appetite for - but said it was time to impose more consequential measures on Assad's regime.

BAGHDAD - Arab leaders gathering here Thursday will call for Syria to implement a cease-fire, but there's little faith that President Bashar al-Assad will do anything to halt his crackdown on the year-old uprising. That could set the stage for gulf Arab nations, eager to see Assad's downfall, to take stronger action on their own. Arab governments are divided over how strongly to intervene to stop the bloodshed in Syria, and their divisions illustrate how the conflict has become a proxy in the region's wider rivalry - the one between Arabs and powerhouse Iran.

There's an old quote that some people, probably wrongly, attribute to Mark Twain that's now seen on bumper stickers: "Denial isn't a river in Egypt. " No, denial is when people ignore what's staring them in the face, like the fact that war-weary Americans don't want any part of a political strategy that might lead to more U.S. troops taking part in another country's fight - and that includes Syria's. It's not that there aren't good reasons to want to help topple the despotic regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

BEIRUT - Syrian tanks and troops yesterday massed outside the resistance stronghold of Homs for a possible ground assault that one activist warned could unleash a new round of bloody urban combat. A flood of military reinforcements has been a prelude to previous offensives by President Bashar Assad's regime, which has tried to use its overwhelming firepower to crush an opposition that has been bolstered by defecting soldiers and hardened by 11 months of street battles. "The human loss is going to be huge if they retake Baba Amr," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

BEIRUT - Syrian security forces fired live rounds and tear gas Saturday at thousands of people marching in a funeral procession that turned into one of the largest protests in Damascus since the 11-month uprising against President Bashar Assad began. The new violence broke out during a visit by a Chinese envoy, who said his country will back a solution to the crisis based on proposals already put forward by the Arab League - even though Beijing is unlikely to support the regional bloc's call for Assad to step aside.

UNITED NATIONS - The General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday for a resolution backing an Arab League plan calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and condemning human-rights violations by his regime. The vote in the 193-member world body on the Arab-sponsored resolution was 137-12 with 17 abstentions. Several countries complained afterward that they were unable to vote due to problems with the voting machine. Supporters were hoping for a high "yes" vote to deliver a strong message to Assad to immediately stop the bloody crackdown that has killed more than 5,400 people and to hand power to his vice president.

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. human-rights chief decried Syria's escalating crackdown on civilian protesters and warned Monday that the Security Council's failure to take action had emboldened the Syrian government to launch an all-out assault to crush dissent. Navi Pillay expressed fears that the deliberate stirring of sectarian tensions might plunge Syria into civil war. She said there were strong indications of ongoing crimes against humanity and again appealed for President Bashar al-Assad's government to be referred to the International Criminal Court.