Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani told a news conference after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo that the Arab League would take its initiative to the United Nations Security Council and ask for its endorsement.
The Arab League earlier extended its observer’s mission in Syria for another month, officials from the 22-member organization said on Sunday. It was also decided that more members be added to the mission and provide them with more resources.
League officials said the UN would train the observers.
The move had been widely expected after the troubled mission technically expired on Thursday. Many in Syria’s opposition movement have complained that the observers have failed to curb the bloodshed in the country as the regime cracks down on a 10-month-old uprising against it. Diplomacy has taken on urgency as opponents of Assad’s regime and soldiers who switched sides increasingly take up arms and fight back against government forces, raising fears the conflict is veering toward civil war after beginning with largely peaceful protests in March.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’ head Rami Abdul-Rahman said government troops had pulled back early Sunday to a provincial headquarters and a security agency building in the Damascus suburb of Douma after hours of clashes, although they still controlled the entrances. The clashes broke out after Syrian troops opened fire at a funeral on Saturday.
Neighboring Turkey, which has called for Syrian president to step down, said on Sunday that it was ready to work with the United Nations if a humanitarian crisis developed in Syria.
"We hope that before the situation reaches that stage, the Syrian administration will halt the unjust war it has waged against its own people and find ways to make peace with its people," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
"But if a humanitarian tragedy unfolds before our eyes, and if the UN steps in, we are ready to work with the United Nations," he added.
International pressure has been steadily growing on Assad's regime, with more than 5,400 people killed since anti-government protests broke out last March, according to UN figures.
