AN ADVISORY body linked to the Arab League yesterday urged it to withdraw its monitors from Syria, pointing out that violence was continuing in spite of their presence.
Ali al-Salem al-Dekbas, chairman of the 88-member Arab Parliament, consisting of delegates from the league’s 22 members, said: “For this to happen in the presence of Arab monitors has roused the anger of Arab people and negates the purpose of sending a fact-finding mission.”
The deployment, he charged, “is giving the Syrian regime an Arab cover for continuing its inhumane actions under the eyes and ears of the Arab League . . . [and] is a blatant violation of the Arab League’s protocol” governing the operations of the monitors.
The parliament asked League secretary general Nabil ElAraby, to convene a foreign ministers meeting to order the withdrawal of the monitors.
However, a League official replied it was too early to pull out the mission since its mandate ends only at the end of this month.
Late on Friday, the National Council, a coalition of exiled groups, and the National Co-ordination Committee, representing dissidents inside Syria, appeared to put an end to opposition bickering by signing a draft unity agreement.
However, yesterday the council denied there had been a deal, while committee representative Haytham Manna said members of the council disagreed with the provision, saying the sides “reject any military intervention that harms the sovereignty or stability of the country, without considering Arab intervention to be foreign”.
Monitors began their mission last week with the objective of halting violence from all sides, securing the release of prisoners, and ensuring withdrawal of the army from urban areas. Local activists say 130 civilians have been killed since monitors began their mission.
The Philippine government has advised its citizens working in Syria to depart as soon as possible.
