Arab League turns screws on Syria

S Arabia: The Arab League (AL) calls on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to transfer power to his first deputy and form a national unity government, which includes members of his administration's opposition.

“After consulting all our Arab brothers in the Arab League, we agreed on forming an Arab initiative,” said Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who is also the current head of the AL, on Sunday, adding that the League envisages a ‘peaceful departure’ for Assad's regime.

Sheikh Hamad said the plan envisioned, “The formation of a national unity government within two months, with the participation of both the regime and the opposition, headed by an individual, previously agreed upon, and whose mission would be the implementation of the terms of the Arab League's plan.”

In addition, the body agreed to call on the United Nations Security Council to endorse their initiative as a ‘last solution’ to the current situation in Syria. The decision came after AL foreign ministers met in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to discuss a report on the situation in Syria submitted to them by the observer mission, which the League has dispatched to the country.

Press TV