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    February 12, 2012

Head of Arab Mission to Syria Quits, New Envoy Proposed

   VOA News
   Demonstrators gather during a protest against Syria's President Bashar
   al-Assad in Homs, February 10, 2012.
   Photo: Reuters
   Demonstrators gather during a protest against Syria's President Bashar
   al-Assad in Homs, February 10, 2012.

   The Arab League says it has accepted the resignation of the Sudanese
   general who led the group's observer mission to Syria, and will
   nominate a former Jordanian foreign minister as the new special envoy
   for the Syrian crisis.
   Officials said General Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi stepped down Sunday, as
   foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab League met in Cairo to
   consider a new joint Arab-United Nations mission to Syria.
   The new observer team would replace one suspended last month after a
   surge in violence in Syria. League officials said chief Nabil Elaraby
   was set to propose Abdel Elah al-Khatib to replace al-Dabi. Al-Khatib
   was the former U.N. envoy to Libya.
   Gulf Arab states have withdrawn their observers to protest the Syrian
   government's refusal to end its violent suppression of an 11-month
   uprising.
   The Arab League ministers are also likely to discuss recognition of the
   Istanbul-based Syrian National Council, an opposition umbrella group.
   On Saturday, violence continued in the flashpoint city of Homs, where
   at least 10 people were killed as Syrian forces moved in to crush the
   revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
   In Damascus and in the southern city of Douma, clashes between the Free
   Syrian Army and government troops killed at least three people.
   Government troops also entered parts of the mountain town of Zabadani.
   The United Nations says violence linked to the uprising has killed more
   than 5,400 people. But the world organization said last month that it
   stopped compiling a death toll because it is too difficult to obtain
   information.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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