Dubai: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) yesterday rejected Syria's call to hold an emergency Arab summit as more violence killed scores in the country.
The hours-long clash in the southern province of Daraa came on a particularly bloody day in Syria, with as many as 90 people killed.
Syria's request for a summit is seen as an apparent effort to forestall its suspension by the Arab League. Its chief Nabeel Al Arabi said he had passed on Syria's request to the member states and 15 of them would have to approve in order to hold a summit.
GCC Secretary-General Abdul Latif Al Zayani said the group of six Gulf Arab states continued to support League efforts to end the bloodshed.
In Cairo, League officials met Syrian President Bashar Al Assad's opponents and asked them to draw up plans for a power transition.
Turkey, meanwhile, kept up the pressure on its one-time ally, warning Al Assad that his government was on a "knife-edge" and saying it may review its supplies of electricity to Damascus.
In a possible signal Turkey was readying economic sanctions against Damascus, its Ministry of Economy said it had established a Syria desk to monitor developments and to assist Turkish businesses in Syria.
Turkey is Syria's largest trading partner with bilateral trade worth $2.5 billion in 2010, and investments by Turkish firms in Syria reached $260 million.
In Moscow, Russia urged the Syrian opposition to back an Arab League-brokered peace accord.
In a statement, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said: "It is crucially important now that President Al Assad immediately stop killing his own people."
