Syrian Turmoil Still Leaving Dozens of Daily Casualties as Calls For Assad to Step Down Increase

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Syria rejects Arab League call for power change

By AFP

DAMASCUS: Syria on Monday rejected an Arab League plan for President Bashar al-Assad to transfer power to his deputy, calling the initiative a “flagrant interference,” state TV quoted an official as saying. “Syria rejects the decisions taken which are outside an Arab working plan, and considers them an attack on its national sovereignty and a flagrant interference in internal affairs,” the official was quoted as saying.

The Arab League on Sunday asked the UN to support a new plan for resolving the crisis in Syria that sees Assad transferring power to his deputy and a government of national unity within two months. Assad should “delegate powers to the vice president to liaise with a government of national unity,” to be formed in two months, according to a statement read by Qatari premier Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani after Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo to determine the fate of their Syrian observer mission.

The Syrian official reacting to the Arab League’s call said the regional body should instead “assume its responsibilities for stopping the financing and arming of terrorists,” the television channel reported. The source added that the Arab League initiative ran counter to the interests of the Syrian people and would not prevent the country from “advancing its political reforms and bringing security and stability to its people who have shown, during this crisis, their support for national unity as they have rallied around President Assad.”

See more at: https://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/syria-rejects-arab-league-call-for-power-change/