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Syrian pro-democracy activists plan to rally after midday prayers Friday against an Arab League observer mission they say will stall tougher action against the government over its opposition crackdown. An Arab League advance team arrived in Syria Thursday to oversee a plan to end nine months of bloodshed as the opposition accused regime forces of "massacring" hundreds in two days. But using the slogan "Protocol of death, a licence to kill", activists called on Facebook for nationwide protests against the mission. Opposition leaders have charged that Syria's agreement to the mission was a mere "ploy" to head off a threat...

Arab League condemns Gingrich's remarks on Palestinians Mr Gingrich has defended his claim that the Palestinians are an "invented" people... The Arab League has condemned the Republican US presidential contender, Newt Gingrich, for calling Palestinians an "invented" people and "terrorists". Mohammed Sobeih, who handles Palestinian affairs for the regional organisation, said the claims were racist...

STORY HIGHLIGHTS - The violence spiked after Syria agreed to an Arab League plan to calm the situation - The United Nations estimates that about 5,000 people have died in Syrian violence this year - The Syrian National Council wants U.N. and Arab League action - It says nearly 250 civilians died over a two-day period

Western powers will not likely intervene to stop the crisis in Syria because of the "complexity" of the issue, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby told Egyptian daily Al Shorouk Tuesday. ... Elaraby was citing fears that a military intervention in Syria would drag the region into a larger conflict due to Damascus's allies and enemies in close proximity. Libya is more territorially isolated. The Arab League chief said the Syrian opposition "has not matured yet," saying the Syrian Revolution General Commission, a coalition of some 40 opposition groups, is unable to change the facts on the ground. Speaking a day...

Syrian security forces have reportedly opened fire on anti-government protesters after hundreds of thousands took to the streets across the country. Activists said at least six people had been killed in the restive central city of Homs, where 200,000 joined marches following Friday prayers. There were also clashes in Hama, Deraa and Deir al-Zour. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 200,000 demonstrators came out in several districts of Homs on Friday, demanding that the Arab League stop extending a deadline is has given Damascus to end the crackdown and agree to an observer mission. The Local...

Italy will continue its efforts within the UN to issue a new Security Council resolution "explaining for everyone the mechanism of economic pressure on the (Syrian) regime, Terzi said during a meeting of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), headed by Burhan Ghalyoun. Italy is determined to impose stricter sanctions against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his aides," he said. Opening a humanitarian passage in Syria "is a complicated problem in front of the force deployed by the regime," added Terzi. Terzi, meanwhile, noted possibility of deploying Arab League observers in Syria to pave way for stability in some tense...

The secretary general of the Arab League has said its approval of unprecedented sanctions has sent a very serious political message to Syria. Nabil al-Arabi told the BBC that the Syrian government could not carry on as if it was business as usual. He said new sanctions recently agreed by Arab states would come into force on Saturday unless Syria kept its promises.Syria's foreign minister has described the sanctions as "economic war". In a BBC interview at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Mr Arabi said the Arab League had agreed to sanctions "with a heavy heart".

Arab states plan to freeze assets, impose travel ban on senior officials and halt commercial flights to Syria, according to draft document. Arab states plan to cut commercial ties with Syria's government and freeze its assets as they step up pressure to end months of political violence in the country, a draft document to be discussed by Arab ministers on Sunday showed. The sanctions would also include a travel ban on senior Syrian officials and a halt to commercial flights to the country, according to the Arab League document seen by Reuters on Saturday. Dealings with Syria's central bank would...

The Arab League voted to suspend SyriaÂ’s membership at its meeting on Saturday and said it would impose economic and political sanctions against the regime of Bashar al-Assad as well as call for the withdrawal of Arab ambassadors from Damascus. The Arab foreign ministers meeting at the LeagueÂ’s headquarters in Cairo also called on the Syrian army to cease its involvement in the killing of civilians and invited the Syrian opposition for transition talks. Opponents of Assad were hoping that the Arab League would suspend SyriaÂ’s membership after Assad pressed ahead with a military crackdown on the unrest despite an...

The Arab League on Monday rejected a push by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Cooperation Council allies to suspend Syria's membership in the body over Bashar al-Assad's brutal seven month crackdown, Arabic daily al-Hayyat reported. Instead, Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani said, the Arab League will seek to bring Assad's regime and Syria's nascent opposition National Council to the negotiating table. "We will call all of the parties of the opposition and government to hold a dialogue within 15 days," Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi said after an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo....

The regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad has recognized the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign state, Reuters reports. The statement added that Syria now regards the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Damascus as the official embassy of the 'Palestinian state.' Assad's recognition comes at a time when mass protests calling for his ouster are being staged and the world questions his legitimacy to rule. Meanwhile, Qatar has suspended diplomatic relations with Syria due to an attack on its own embassy by Assad supporters. The announcement follows the Arab League draft statement last week saying it will submit a motion...

The precedent of the imposition of a No Fly Zone over Libya to assert the “Right to Protect” (R2P) the civilian population from Gadhafi forces has led to its predictable end with the Arab League now demanding the United Nations to send member nations’ forces to impose a No Fly Zone under R2P the civilians in Gaza from Israeli air strikes. The Arab League has labeled the Israeli retaliatory strikes on terror targets as brutal. Color me shocked as who could have seen this coming down the pike from miles away. Does this mean the Arab League called for the...

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa announced Wednesday his willingness to accompany Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Gaza Strip in order to facilitate the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. Palestinian President Abbas has officially asked Moussa to accompany him in his visit to Gaza on behalf of all Arab nations, said chief Palestinian negotiator Dr. Saeb Erakat in a joint press conference with Moussa... Erakat explained that after holding talks with Abbas, two main points were agreed upon: the first is the president's trip to Gaza to start talks with Hamas and the second is forming a technocrat government...

Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr. Nabil al-Arabi yesterday stated that the Gulf's security, stability, and Arab identity represent a "red-line" which Egypt rejects any transgression against. In related news, the Arab League informed its member-states that Qatar had officially nominated former Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] Secretary-General Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, to replace Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa, who is set to leave his position as head of the Arab League in May. During a press conference on Wednesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi welcomed the results of the recent meeting of GCC foreign ministers. He said that the GCC states had "succeeded in...

The Arab League on Saturday announced it would host next week a conference on war-wracked Libya, which will be attended by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The April 14 gathering will focus on political solutions to the crisis and "reinforce coordination between the Arab League, UN, African Union and Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC)," league number two Ahmed Ben Helli said. Amr Mussa, who heads the 22-member pan-Arab body based in the Egyptian capital, OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Jean Ping, head of the African Union Commission, will also attend the...

The Libyan mission Operation Odyssey Dawn, under UN authority, is a dog's breakfast and nothing good is going to come out of it. The conniving elite of the Arab League has snookered an ever-ready coalition of western powers to do its bidding. And the western powers (Britain, France, the U.S. and Canada dutifully in tow), with their sights protectively fixed on oil-rich desert patches of the Middle East and North Africa, needed little urging to respond. This operation, as repeatedly broadcast by coalition leaders, is to save Libyan lives. Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague, for instance, announced in Parliament: "Our...

Maybe the next time Pres. Barack Obama is tempted to follow the leadership of the Arab League, he’ll think twice. Having brandished the Arab League’s call as the classiest of multilateral credentials for going to war in Libya, and praised its members as partners, Obama is now left with little more from this crew than promises and the on-again off-again hectoring of Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa. To be sure, there are good arguments for intervening in Libya. As leader of the free world, the U.S. is called upon by its own decency and democratic values to act when longtime...

For all of that still unsettled pain, the foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari -- in his new capacity as head of the Arab League -- rushed off to Paris last Friday evening to join Western and Arab allies, where he argued passionately in favor of action against Libya, citing the American no-fly zone in northern Iraq that protected the Kurdish population from Saddam Hussein in the years before the American invasion here, according to a senior official who took part in the Paris deliberations. And soon, Iraqi leaders, who are facing their own protest movement, plan to use their own troublesome...

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Monday that he respected a UN resolution that authorized military action on Libya, after earlier comments suggested he was concerned by actions taken by Western powers. "The Arab League position on Libya was decisive and from the first moment we froze membership of Libya ... Then we asked the United Nations to implement a no-fly zone," he told a news conference with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "We respect the UN resolution and there is no conflict with it, especially as it indicated there would be no invasion but that it would protect civilians...

The head of the Arab League Amr Moussa, has condemned the allied bombing outside of Benghazi, saying the action "differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone," and what he wants is "the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians." The Washington Post: Moussa's declaration suggested some of the 22 Arab League members were taken aback by what they have seen and wanted to modify their approval lest they be perceived as accepting outright Western military intervention in Libya. Although the eccentric Gaddafi is widely looked down on in the Arab world, Middle Eastern leaders and...