Arab Parliament calls on A.L. to pull monitors out of Syria
A pan-Arab body called Sunday for the immediate withdrawal of the Arab League monitors in Syria because President Bashar Assad’s regime has kept up killings of government opponents even in the presence of the observers.
The 88-member Arab Parliament said that Arabs are angered by the Syrian regime’s ongoing killings while the nearly 100 monitors are in the country. The monitors are supposed to be ensuring Syria complies with terms of the League’s plan to end the 9-month-old crackdown on dissent — a plan Syria agreed to on Dec. 19.
However, the Kuwaiti head of the Arab Parliament, Ali Salem al-Deqbasi, said the presence of the monitors is distracting from the “flagrant violations” committed by Assad’s regime.
“The killing of children and the violation of human rights law is happening in the presence of Arab League monitors, raising the fury of Arab people,” he said.
“The mission of the Arab League team has missed its aim of stopping the killing of children and ensuring the withdrawal of troops from the Syrian streets, giving the Syrian regime a cover to commit inhumane acts under the noses of the Arab League observers,” al-Deqbasi said in a statement.
According to activists, more than 150 people have been killed across the country since the observers began their one-month mission on Tuesday.
The Arab League plan demands that the government remove its security forces and heavy weapons from cities, start talks with the opposition and allow human rights workers and journalists into the country. It also calls for the release of all political prisoners.
The Arab League created the Arab Parliament, which is made up of lawmakers and advisers from states around the Middle East. Its recommendations are nonbinding.
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