But Arab ministers will also consider a call to reject unilateral US sanctions against Damascus, according to a draft resolution obtained by Reuters.
The United States, which has imposed limits on trade with Syria under its 2004 Syria Accountability Act — referred to in
the draft as “a violation of international law,” has stepped up sanctions to include Assad, several aides and businesses.
Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said he had agreed a series of measures with Assad on Saturday after a visit to Damascus, and would present them to ministers at the meeting in Cairo that was called to discuss Syria and other Arab issues.
“We think the solution must come through ending the use of arms, putting an end to bloodshed and resorting to wisdom and dialogue,” said Sheikh Hamad, who is also Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister.
MORE BLOOD SHED
In one of Syria’s largest country-wide military assaults against pro-democracy protests, Assad forces shot dead five mourners on Tuesday when they fired at a funeral for villagers killed the day before near Hama, local activists said.
Security police snipers began shooting from the roof of a school and a municipal water tank in the town of Kfar Nubouzeh, when hundreds of mourners began chanting slogans demanding Assad’s downfall, activists in contact with residents said.
One of the activists said Kfar Nubouzeh was among the regions hardest hit by the assaults, which killed at least 15 villagers and drove thousands from their homes, because it is the hometown of Hama’s attorney general, who announced his defection ten days ago and has not been heard from since.
“Kfar Nubouzeh has been also a meeting point for protesters from surrounding villages,” he said.
The military operation focused on villages and towns north of Hama and on the Al-Ghab Plain, farmland to the east. The area has seen regular protests and serves as a supply center for army deserters who took refuge in the adjacent region of Jabal Al-Zawiya near the Turkish border, residents and activists said.
Most of the deserters, who are estimated to number in the hundreds, are from the Sunni Muslim rank and file, which is dominated by an officer core from Syria’s minority Alawite sect, the same sect as Assad and the ruling hierarchy.
In his opening address, Sheikh Hamad also urged the international community to back a Palestinian bid for statehood, which Arabs will support at the United Nations this month.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Arab states had agreed to push for Palestinian membership of the United Nations despite a US threat to block such a move.
Arab foreign ministers, who began efforts in July to organize backing for the Palestinian bid, decided to set up a team comprising the Arab League head and six League members to further pursue the controversial application, due to be submitted when the UN General Assembly opens on Sept. 19.
Elaraby said Arab states were in contact with various parties to ensure widest recognition of a Palestinian state.
The Palestinians decided to seek UN recognition of statehood after years of negotiations with Israel failed to deliver the independent state they want to establish in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
