Gulf states to withdraw observers from Syria

24/01/2012| IslamWeb

Gulf Arab states say they have decided to withdraw their observers from the Arab League mission to Syria, saying that the much-criticized initiative has failed to stop the bloodshed.

Tuesday's development comes after Saudi Arabia said on Monday that its observers would be withdrawn.

"Gulf Co-operation Council [GCC] states have decided to follow Saudi Arabia's decision to pull out its observers from the Arab League mission in Syria," the regional bloc said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said the GCC was "certain the bloodshed and killing of innocents would continue, and that the Syrian leadership would not abide by the Arab League's resolutions".

The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Before the announcement, Kuwaiti newspaper al-Qabas quoted diplomats as saying the decision was taken because the states did not want observers to be "false witnesses to the crimes committed against civilians by the Syrian regime."

Syria on Monday condemned a new Arab League initiative calling on President Bashar al-Assad to delegate power to his vice president and for elections to be held under a "national unity government".

"Syria rejects the decisions taken which are outside an Arab working plan, and considers them an attack on its national sovereignty and a flagrant interference in internal affairs," Syrian state television quoted a government official as saying .

The new plan envisioned the "peaceful departure of the Syrian regime" and resembled the arrangement in Yemen, where Gulf states convinced Ali Abdullah Saleh, the outgoing president, to delegate power and leave the country, Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Arab League observers are pictured during a visit to Zabadani, near Damasus, January 21, 2012.

Al-Jazeera