Syria 'categorically' rejects Arab League decisions

Cairo, Feb 12: Syria today "categorically" rejected the decision by Arab foreign ministers to back the Syrian opposition and call for a joint UN-Arab peacekeeping mission, the Syrian ambassador to Cairo said.

"The Syrian Arab Republic categorically rejects the decisions of the Arab League," which he said "reflects the hysteria of these governments" after failing to get foreign intervention at the UN Security Council, Yusef Ahmed said in a statement.

League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo today, agreed to open contacts with Syria's opposition and to ask the United Nations to form a joint peacekeeping force to the unrest-swept nation.

According to Ahmed, who did not attend the meetings, Syria "has said from the outset that it is not concerned by any decision taken by the Arab League in its absence."

The pan-Arab bloc's statement showed "the coordinated work and decisions of the League... are hostage to the governments of (certain) Arab countries headed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia" working in collaboration with the West, he charged.

It also demonstrated "the state of hysteria and turmoil that the governments of these countries are experiencing after their failure in the Security Council," Ahmed added. The Syrian ambassador said the West planned to "redistribute the cards in the region, in order to impose a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, resulting in the loss of (Arab) rights and land."

AFP