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Syrian opposition calls for UN role to end crisis
[Pak Daily Times] The Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
must bring the UN into the effort to stop Syria's bloody crackdown on protesters, the top opposition leader said Sunday, as security forces pressed ahead with raids and arrests around the country.

Burhan Ghalioun, the Gay Paree-based leader of the Syrian National Council, made the plea as Arab League officials were setting up observer teams, part of their plan to end nine months of turmoil that has killed more than 5,000 people, according to the UN

Opposition groups believe the vaporous Arab League is not strong enough to resolve the crisis, which is escalating beyond mass demonstrations into armed festivities - and a double suicide kaboom that shook Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
on Friday.

In a televised speech marking Christmas, Ghalioun said, "I call upon the Arab League to ask the Security Council to adopt its plan in order to increase possibilities of its success and avoid giving the regime an opportunity not to carry out its obligations."

He said the opposition council "holds the international community to its responsibilities and asks them to use all available means to put an end to the tragedies experienced by the Syrian people".

"The barbaric massacre must stop now," Ghalioun said. The Arab League has begun sending observers into Syria to monitor compliance with its plan to end to the crackdown on political opponents. The 22-member bloc has warned that it could turn to the UN Security Council to help stop the violence that began nine months ago.

The Arab League plan requires the government to remove its security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders and allow human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
workers and journalists into the country. Syria agreed to the plan but has stalled implementation.

Mohamed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, head of the Arab League observer team, traveled to Damascus late Saturday after meeting with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby to discuss arrangements of the mission. More observers are expected to arrive Monday.

On Saturday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist groups said troops shelled the town of Juraithi in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. An unknown number of people were maimed and dozens jugged. They also reported that parts of the restive central city of Homs was bombed Saturday, killing at least three people.

The two groups also blamed the regime for the liquidation of former member of Assad's ruling Baath party in Homs Ghazi Zoaib and his wife later Saturday. The groups said Zoaib had recently expressed support of the opposition.

The Syrian government has long contended that the turmoil in Syria this year is not an uprising by reform-seekers but the work of Islamic fascisti and foreign-backed armed gangs.
Posted by: Fred 2011-12-26
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=335944