Finance ministers from the Arab League have agreed on a draft plan for a package of economic sanctions against Syria, including the suspension of commercial flights to the country and dealings with the central bank.

The decision came after a meeting of the league's economic and social committee in Cairo on Saturday night. Its recommendations will now be passed to the full Arab League for consideration.

The organization had set a Friday deadline for Damascus to allow rights monitors into the country, but the deadline passed with no firm commitment from Syrian officials.

The sanctions package also calls for Arab states to freeze the overseas bank accounts of Syrian key officials.

Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Muallem criticized the decision in a letter to the Arab League, accusing it of trying to "internationalize" the conflict in Syria.

Muallem called the sanctions an invitation "for foreign intervention instead of a call to avoid one... what we understand, by this latest Arab League decision, is a tacit green light for the internationalization of the situation in Syria and to meddle in its domestic affairs."

The sanctions were strongly opposed by both Lebanon and Iraq, which have both said they will not impose sanctions against their neighbor. Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister, said on Saturday that it was "not possible" to impose economic sanctions on Syria due to its commercial ties with Iraq and the large number of Iraqi refugees there.

The US and the European Union have already imposed major sanctions, including an oil embargo, on the Syrian leadership.

Violence continues

Activists in Syria said that at least nine people were killed on Saturday, most of them in the eastern town of Deir al-Zor, and that army defectors killed eight Syrian soldiers.

The violence followed an even bloodier day on Friday, when activists said 26 people were killed, most of them in Homs. The province also saw an ambush which led to the killing of 10 security personnel, including six elite military pilots, according to the Syrian armed forces quoted by the state-run SANA news agency..

PHOTO CAPTION

People stand in line waiting to change empty cooking gas cylinders in Homs November 25, 2011

Al Jazeera