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| The Arab League has called for a peaceful solution in Syria |
The Arab
League has rejected a demand by Syria to alter its plan for ending the
country's conflict, which has reportedly left at least 3,500 dead.
It
dismissed Syria's demand to amend its proposal for a 500-strong observer
mission to be sent to the country.
The Arab
League's deadline for Syria to end its crackdown passed overnight with no sign
of violence abating.
President
Bashar al-Assad has said his country will not bow to "pressure" and
predicted the conflict would continue.
Speaking to
the UK's Sunday Times, he said the unity and stability of Syria were at stake.
The Arab
League plan, seen by the world as the best hope for resolving the conflict
peacefully, seems to have crashed in flames, the BBC's Jim Muir reports.
On Sunday,
there were reports of a grenade attack on a building of the ruling party in the
capital Damascus.
If
confirmed, it would be the first such attack reported inside the capital since
the uprising began in March.
At least 27
people were killed on Saturday, according to opposition activists, including
four government intelligence agents whose car was ambushed in Hama by gunmen
believed to be army defectors.
Foreign
journalists are unable to move around Syria freely, making it difficult to
verify reports.
'Pressure
to subjugate'
The Arab
League's plan has been the focus of efforts to find a diplomatic solution and
comes as key international players such as Russia and the US warned of the
danger of civil war in Syria.
In a
statement on Sunday, the Arab League said: "It was agreed that the
amendments and appendices proposed by the Syrian side affect the core of the
document and would radically change the nature of the mission which is to
oversee the implementation of the Arab plan to end the crisis in Syria and
protect Syrian civilians."
Arab League
proposals
- End to violence and killing
- Allow foreign journalists to work freely
- Release prisoners recently detained
- Withdraw all military equipment from Syrian cities
- Government-opposition dialogue within two week
Earlier reports said Damascus was seeking to reduce the observer delegation from 500 to 40.
Syria was
reported to have agreed in principle to accept the Arab League's peace plan but
critics accused it of stalling for time.
"The
conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue,"
Mr Assad told the Sunday Times.
"However,
I assure you that Syria will not bow down and that it will continue to resist
the pressure being imposed on it."
Mr Assad
appeared to dismiss the Arab League plan, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from
Beirut.
He said it
was designed to show that the Arabs were divided, and to prepare the way for
outside military intervention which, he repeated, would have dire consequences
for the whole region.
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