Arab Parliament urges end to Syria monitors' mission

[dipsydoodle]

An advisory body to the Arab League has called for the organisation's observers to be withdrawn from Syria because of the ongoing crackdown on protests.

The speaker of the Arab Parliament said the monitors had to leave "considering the continued killing of innocent civilians by the Syrian regime".

There has been no let-up in the violence since the observers started their work on Tuesday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16379727 1 January 2012 Last updated at 18:32

[tabatha]

1. Well, they certainly do not leave with the impression that the unrest was due to armed gangs

- as the Syrian govt said they would - unless the armed gangs can be defined as the Syrian army.

[pampango]

2. Aljazeera: Arab body wants withdrawal of Syria monitors

An advisory body to the Arab League has called for the immediate withdrawal of the group's observer mission in Syria, saying its monitors are inadvertently helping the government cover up continued violence.

The Arab Parliament, an 88-member advisory committee of delegates from each of the League's member states, said on Sunday that the violence in Syria was continuing to claim victims despite the presence of Arab League monitors.

But the parliament called on the League's Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby to convene a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to adopt a resolution to withdraw the mission immediately.

"For this to happen in the presence of Arab monitors has roused the anger of Arab people and negates the purpose of sending a fact-finding mission," Ali al-Salem al-Dekbas, the Arab Parliament's chairman said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/01/201211125540595255.html

[jberryhill]

3. Not till we see the Syrian intelligence porno reel

Wikileak that one, Syrian intelligence dude.

[David__77]

4. Adnan al-Khodeir (AL official): Observers' field work... going "according to plan."

"An Arab League official said in a statement Sunday that the observers' field work was going "according to plan," noting that only the organization's official governing council has the authority to stop the fact-finding mission.

"Additional observers are scheduled to head to Syria this week to join efforts to determine whether the Syrian government is abiding by an agreement to end its crackdown on demonstrators, said Adnan al-Khodeir, head of the Arab League's operations team in charge of the observers' mission."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/01/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html