Arab League to raise pressure on Syria: delegate

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CAIRO: Arab governments will step up pressure on Syria's President Bashar al-Assad at a meeting on Saturday with a demand he end a crackdown on protesters trying to remove him, a delegate said.

The Syrian government has sent in troops and tanks to crush five months of street unrest, killing at least 2,200 protesters according to the United Nations.

"There has been an agreement in talks held between the Arab states on ... pressuring the Syrian regime to completely stop the military operations and withdraw its forces," the delegate to the 22-member Arab League's council told Reuters.

"A clear message (will be sent) to the Syrian president that it has become unacceptable for the Arab states to stay silent on what is happening in Syria, especially following the Security Council's move to impose sanctions on Syrian officials," said the delegate, who asked not to be named.

He said Arab foreign ministers would also discuss a proposal to send a ministerial delegation to Damascus to "directly inform the Syrian leader of the Arab position".

The Arab League meeting started late at night in Cairo.

"We will negotiate to establish stability for the Syrian people," the Omani foreign minister Youssef Bin Alawi said during the opening session.

Hundreds of supporters of pro-democracy activists in both Syria and Yemen demonstrated outside the League's Cairo headquarters shortly before Arab ministers arrived.

The protesters called on the leaders of both countries to step down. Yemen has seen months of mass rallies against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule.

"The Arab league is being pressured by Arab public opinion to make more effort in the coming period," Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said in his opening speech.

"We confirm that a security solution is not useful and that if (the Arab states) quickly carry out the reforms they have promised, they will protect Arab states from foreign intervention," he said.

Inside the meeting hall, television screens showed footage of dead bodies in the Syrian cities of Hama and Deir al-Zor.

International condemnation of the repression escalated this month after activists said Assad sent the army into several cities including Hama, Deir al-Zor and Latakia. (Rueters)

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