100 killed as Syria agrees to Arab deal allowing monitors

Dec 19, 2011, 19:37 GMT

Beirut/Cairo - 100 people were killed in Syria on Monday while the country signed an Arab deal to allow a monitoring mission into the country, in the hope of ending ten months of bloodshed.

However, hours after the deal was announced, activists told dpa that at least 72 Syrian army deserters had been shot dead by regular army units, as they tried to flee their military posts in Idlib province near the Turkish-Syrian border.

Some 28 people had been killed by Syrian forces earlier in the day, most of whom were from the central province of Homs and Idlib, activists added.

State-run Syrian news agency SANA said instead that security forces had clashed with 'terrorist gangs' in Idlib and Homs, killing 11 of the group.

More than 5,000 people have been killed by the Syrian regime's crackdown on nationwide democracy protests that erupted in mid-March, according to a recent United Nations estimate.

Monday's high death toll came as the UN General Assembly strongly condemned Syria's harsh crackdown on civilian protesters.

The 193-nation assembly voted 123 to 16, with 51 abstentions, to condemn human rights abuses in Syria, including arbitrary executions, excessive use of force, the killing and persecution of protesters and human rights defenders, and torture and ill-treatment of detainees, including children.

Earlier Monday, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and Arab League Assistant Secretary General Ahmed Ben Helli signed their agreement at the organization's headquarters in Cairo.

Syria's main opposition alliance dismissed the deal as a regime 'ploy' to avoid threats to take the issue to the UN Security Council, and warned that it would seek Arab military intervention if the crackdown continued.

Speaking in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said the government had agreed to the protocol 'because we want a political solution in Syria, and because we want to find a solution with Arab League help.'

'Damascus will welcome monitors from Arab countries which are represented in the Arab League,' he told reporters. 'We would not have signed the Arab League protocol if it was not modified to preserve Syria's stability.'

Arab monitors will start arriving in Syria within the coming two to three days, and visit more than 100 sites in the country, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said Monday.

The Arab bloc had been trying for weeks to convince Damascus to accept the observer mission.

Under the terms of the deal the Arab observers are to oversee, Syrian security forces are to pull back from the towns and villages that have been the hub of protests and open negotiations with the opposition under the league's auspices.

The Arab League had initially given Syria until Wednesday to sign the deal. It had warned that if Damascus did not, the League would likely turn to the UN Security Council to try to end the regime's crackdown on the popular uprising.

The Syrian official said the observer mission's security was guaranteed and they could enter any area they wanted.

'The protocol has a one-month mandate and can be extended to another if the two parties agreed on that,' he added.

Al-Moallem said that Syria's main ally, Russia - which in October used its Security Council veto to stop a condemnation resolution against Syria - had advised Damascus to sign the protocol.

'Russia's position is clear, they advised Syria to sign the protocol and we implemented that,' he said.

The National Syrian Council, SNC, which groups 140 opposition leaders, criticized the Arab League and expressed doubts that Damascus would fully abide by the bloc's plan.

'We expected a stronger position from the Arab League,' Burhan Ghalion, head of the SNC, told a press conference after a three-day congress in Tunisia.

'It's obvious the regime wants to play for time,' he said.

Sheikh Anas Airout, a member of the SNC, also told dpa that the Syrian regime signed the protocol after Russia 'exerted heavy pressures.'

'The regime had no other choice either - (between) the UN Security Council or the Arab League, they chose the easy way out,' said the Turkey-based cleric, who has played a key role in the protests against al-Assad.

'Syrian officials are experts in maneuvering and this might delay the implementations on the ground for the Arab monitors,' he said.