Syria rejects Arab League calls for Assad to step down

Syria today rejected Arab League calls for President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to a deputy and set up a new unity government, saying the plan was part of a “conspiracy against Syria”.

State news agency SANA said: “Syria rejects the decisions from the Arab League ministerial council … and considers them a violation of its national sovereignty and a flagrant interference in its internal affairs.”

 

The statement did not mention the Arab League foreign ministers’ decision to extend the Arab League observation mission, which began a month ago and has been criticised for failing to halt the bloodshed.

Some 5000 people have been killed in more than 10 months of protests against Assad’s rule, according to the United Nations. 

Meanwhile, Syrian authorities say they are fighting foreign-backed armed “terrorists” who have killed 2,000 soldiers and police.

 

 

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.