Syria rejects Arab League power transfer plan as ‘interference’

The meeting of Arab foreign ministers lasted six hours longer than scheduled.
The leader of the monitoring mission to Syria, Gen. Mustafa al-Dabi, had
recommended extending it for another month, and was backed by the
secretary-general, Nabil al-Araby, even though he also accused Mr Assad of
exploiting it for his own purposes.

An extension had been fiercely opposed by Syrian opposition groups who claimed
it gave licence to Mr Assad to “carry on killing”.

Saudi Arabia, the major Gulf power, announced it was pulling its observers
out.

“It is not a quality of Arab leaders to kill their people,” a
statement by its foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said, accusing the
Assad regime of using the mission to “hide its crimes”.

The offer that emerged was a compromise, but a detailed one. It said Mr Assad
should open a dialogue with the opposition within two weeks, form a
coalition government in two months, and then allow free elections.

It was not clear whether the League had sought a response in advance from Mr
Assad, but he was also facing an ever bleaker situation at home. Activists
said they were in control of Douma, a town on the outskirts of Damascus
itself and just 10 miles from the city centre, after the army was forced to
withdraw.

Clashes began on Saturday evening at the funeral of Mohammed Said Maddah, a
protester who had been shot dead, according to Omar al-Khani, of the Syrian
Revolutionary Command in Damascus.

“When the martyr’s body arrived, along with the funeral procession, the
criminal Assad gangs waged a surprise attack and shot at them,” he
said.

Gun battles with the rebel Free Syrian Army led to the government troops
eventually withdrawing.

“The FSA gathered near Hawwa mosque,” said an activist who claimed
to have been present at the funeral. “Then they advanced attacking the
Syrian troops stationed at the end of the street.

“The fighting continued for four hours, and the FSA managed to kill
seven or eight troops and capture one officer”.

Douma is the second town near Damascus to have declared itself free of
government control, after Zabadani to the west.

Rebels hope that they can become hubs of further resistance, as Benghazi did
in Libya. “He is getting weaker day by day. More frequently now the
leaders of the troops run away,” said the Douma activist.

Mr al-Araby said the presence of monitors was softening the regime’s stance.
It may also have been keen to avoid the fighting necessary to reclaim the
two towns while the Arab League decided on its next steps.

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