Syria has called for an emergency Arab League summit a day after the organization suspended the country as President Bashar al-Assad’s government pressed on with a crackdown against protesters.
The meeting would “address the Syrian crisis,” the official Syrian Arab News Agency reported today, citing an unidentified government official. Syria would welcome a visit by an Arab League delegation including civilian and military monitors before the organization’s suspension takes effect on Nov. 16, the news service said.
Syria has continued with its crackdown on protesters even after the government on Nov. 2 agreed to an Arab League plan for ending the violence. Security forces killed 17 people today, Al- Arabiya television reported, citing activists. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Nov. 7 that Syrian forces had killed 71 civilians in the previous three days.
“Assad will try and blur the issue by calling for a summit,” said Andrew Tabler, a Syria analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in an e-mailed response to questions. “He will invite in monitors and deploy more of the army and security services to scare people to stay home so it seems he has the issue under control.”
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