Arab League Extends Deadline 24 Hours; Demonstrations Break Out

After the Syrian government missed a deadline set by the Arab League to accept human rights observers, the League gave the government 24 hours to accept observers or face economic sanctions. The League’s proposed plan called for 500 observers to enter Syria to monitor the situation, but Damascus reportedly will only let in 40. Arab League officials said on Thursday that if President Bashar al-Assad‘s government failed to sign the proposed agreement, Arab finance ministers would meet in Cairo on Saturday to “discuss imposing economic sanctions that could include halting flights to Syria, curbing trade and stopping transactions with the country’s central bank.”

Despite looming sanctions, Russia stressed that dialogue is needed in Syria, not sanctions as Russia Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said ”at the current stage, what is needed is not resolutions, not sanctions, not pressure, but internal Syrian dialogue.” China and other BRICS members supported Russia’s claims, and urged Syria to begin internal dialogue and warned against foreign intervention without U.N. backing. However, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hoped Syria would abide by the League’s proposed plan, but stated “if it doesn’t, there are steps we can take in consultation with the Arab League…I want to say clearly we have no more tolerance for the bloodshed in Syria. The attitude of friendly and fraternal countries on this subject is clear.”

As the deadline expired on Friday, anti-government protests broke out throughout Syria, with reports stating at least 28 people were killed, mostly in the central province of Homs. The Syrian military said ten air force personnel were killed on Friday in attack against a military base, stating “an armed terrorist group undertook an evil assassination plot that martyred six pilots, a technical officer and three other personnel on an air force base between Homs and Palmyra.” The military noted in the same statement that “Our armed forces continue to carry out our mission to defend the country’s security, and we will hit back against anything that threatens us”