arab League team to head to UN over Syria Saturday

Arab League Calls on UN in Syria | DC

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rab League chief Nabil al-Arabi and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani will head to New York on Saturday to seek support for an Arab plan on Syria, Arabi said, as Russia said it would continue to promote its own draft resolution on Syria at the U.N. Security Council.

The two will “hold a meeting with the U.N. Security Council on Monday to seek ratification of the Arab League decision on Syria,” for President Bashar al-Assad to hand power to his deputy, Arabi said.

Meanwhile, Syrian security forces killed 63 civilians, mostly in Homs, in clashes across the country on Thursday, Al Arabiya reported citing Syrian activists.

A Syrian officer told Reuters clashes had been under way in Douma since the morning. Security forces were searching houses for arms and wanted suspects. Reporters were shown home-made grenades among other seized weapons.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces had detained 200 people in Douma, a hotbed of protests and armed rebellion against Assad.

Assad’s former vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam told France’s Le Figaro that the Syrian president was storing arms at the neighborhoods inhabited by the Alawites. He accused Assad of attempting to divide the country. He told the French newspaper that weapons and machine guns have been distributed among the Alawite inhabitants and about a month ago heavy weaponry have been transferred and hidden in the mountains.

Arab League ministers meeting in Cairo last week had asked for U.N. support in their efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria, where a crackdown on protests has left more than 5,400 people dead since March, according to AFP.

The League called on Assad to delegate powers to his vice president and clear the way for a national unity government to be formed within two months.