Abu Dhabi: Syria and the Arab League have agreed on a roadmap to end more than seven months of unrest and violence in the country. A formal announcement is expected to be made Wednesday at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Syrian state television said.
"Syria and the Arab League are in agreement over the final paper concerning the situation in Syria and the official announcement will be made at Arab League headquarters tomorrow," the report said Tuesday.
On Sunday, an Arab task force headed by Qatar met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mua'alem and submitted a proposal calling on President Bashar Al Assad to pull tanks off the streets and begin talks.
Ultimatum
Earlier, an Arab League diplomat was quoted in Cairo as saying that "there has been agreement on some minor amendments, but the Arab delegation demanded a final response yesterday to the Arab proposal".
In Abu Dhabi, Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Russia said they supported a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis, modelled after the UN Security Council resolution on Yemen.
Asked if the Arab League would take the Syrian crisis to the Security Council if their initiative fails, UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said: "We do not think that there is any party which is willing to internationalise this matter. At least we Arabs don't."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country would oppose a military intervention in Syria. "We have many questions regarding the treatment of international law after the UN Security Council adopted the Libyan resolution," allowing military intervention to protect civilian lives, and "after the Libyan drama," he said.
Russian stand
"If it depends on us, I don't think we will allow anything of that sort to be repeated" in Syria, Lavrov said after a Gulf-Russian ministerial meeting, when asked if such measures could be taken against Syria.
Asked if Moscow will maintain its support for Al Assad, the Russian foreign minister said: "We are not protecting any regime."
Lavrov yesterday urged the Syrian opposition "not to reject invitations for dialogue" and said they "must not associate with destructive, radical, extremist elements [and] armed groups who receive arms from abroad."
— With additional inputs from Agencies
Foot amputated: landmines' first victim
A Syrian man whose foot had to be amputated after he stepped on a landmine just across from the Lebanese village of Irsal on Sunday was the first known victim of the landmines Syria is accused of planting along parts of its border with Lebanon.
The Syrian exodus to neighbouring Lebanon and Turkey has been a deep embarrassment for President Bashar Al Assad, who warned over the weekend that the Middle East will burn if foreign powers try to intervene in his country's conflict.
A Syrian official familiar with government strategy claimed the anti-personnel mines are meant to prevent arms smuggling into Syria.
Witnesses on the Lebanese side of the border claimed to have seen Syrian soldiers planting the mines in recent days in two parts of Syrian territory: in the restive province of Homs and across from Lebanon's eastern Baalbek region.
— AP
