...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...
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees said that land and cellular telecommunications as well as electricity have been cut in the Jabal al-Zawiya region where army defectors have been active for months.
Syria's acceptance came on Friday after surprisingly heavy pressure from the vaporous Arab League, which brokered the plan and this week suspended Syria from the 22-member organization for failing to abide by it. On Wednesday, the league gave Damascus
...The
City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
three days to accept an observer mission or face economic sanctions.
The latest attacks came amid building international pressure on Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
An official at Britannia's Foreign Office said Foreign Secretary William Hague intends to meet opposition representatives in London on Monday.
Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase...
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called on the U.N. Security Council to strengthen sanctions against Assad's regime. However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
Russia, which holds veto power in the council, urged caution in moving against Damascus.
In Washington, State Department front man Mark Toner said the U.S. has seen no signs that Syria's government will honor the Arab League proposal. Violence has escalated in Syria over the past week, as army dissidents who sided with the protests have grown more bold, fighting back against regime forces and even assaulting military bases. Activist groups said security forces on Friday killed at least 16 anti-government protesters.
Also Saturday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, commenting on the deteriorating relations between his country and its southern neighbor, accused Syria of not fulfilling promises for reform or to stop the bloodshed. "In the past nine years, it was Syria and the Syrian people -- rather than Turkey -- that had benefited from the Turkish-Syrian friendship," Erdogan said. "Unfortunately, the Syrian administration has acted in a reluctant and insincere manner in keeping its promises."
"If there is a change of policy, it is not by Turkey but by Syria. Syria has not kept its promises to Turkey, to the Arab League or to the world. It made promises but did not fulfill them. It has not acted in a sincere trustworthy manner," he said.
The attacks on Jabal al-Zawiya came two days after an army force in the nearby area of Wadi al-Deif came under attack by army defectors, a clash that lasted four hours and left an unknown number of casualties among troops loyal to Assad, said an activist said.
The activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said troops fired from heavy machine guns mounted on armored personnel carriers on the attackers.
The Arab League observer mission aims to prevent violence and monitor a cease-fire that Damascus agreed to last week, but has been unwilling -- or unable -- to implement.