Syria blasts kill 15, Arab monitors may stay

Syrian troops battle deserters elsewhere in northwest; head of Arab monitors to report to Arab League.

By REUTERS
Syria protest_311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Syria protest_311
(photo credit: Reuters)
BEIRUT - Bomb blasts killed at least 15 prisoners traveling in a security vehicle in northwest Syria on Saturday and troops fought rebels elsewhere as the Arab League weighed whether to keep monitors in place.
The League looks set to extend its monitoring mission in Syria, given the lack of any Arab or world consensus on how to halt bloodshed there, an Arab diplomatic source said.
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Syria's state news agency SANA said a "terrorist" group had set off two explosions on the road between the towns of Idlib and Ariha, killing 14 prisoners and wounding 26. Six police guards were also wounded, some critically.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the 10-month-old revolt against President Bashar Assad, said the death toll from the attack had risen to 15.
Elsewhere in Idlib province, it said troops were clashing with army deserters who have joined the insurgency in the Jebel al-Zawiya. The bodies of three soldiers were found near the village of Babolin, it added.
Syrian forces killed one Lebanese fisherman and wounded another when they seized their boat off the Lebanese-Syrian coast, the father of the dead man said. It was not clear why the Syrians had intercepted the vessel. Syria says its neighbors are failing to combat arms smuggling that supplies insurgents.
Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, head of the 165-strong monitoring team, was due in Cairo on Saturday to submit his report for a League committee on Syria to consider on Sunday.
Hundreds of people were killed during the month-long observer mission, dispatched to assess Syria's implementation of an Arab peace plan originally agreed in early November.
Syria, keen to avoid tougher action by the Arab League or by the United Nations, has tried to show it is complying with the plan, which demanded a halt to killings, a military pullout from the streets, the release of detainees, access for the monitors and the media, and a political dialogue with opposition groups.
"Yes, there is not complete satisfaction with Syria's cooperation with the monitoring mission," the Arab source said. "But in the absence of any international plan to deal with Syria, the best option is for the monitors to stay."
Critics say the Arab monitors have only given Assad diplomatic cover to pursue a bloody crackdown on his opponents.
This month the Syrian authorities have freed hundreds of detainees, announced an amnesty, struck a ceasefire deal with armed rebels in one town, allowed the Arab observers into some trouble spots and admitted a gaggle of foreign journalists.
Assad also promised political reforms, while vowing iron-fist treatment of the "terrorists" trying to topple him.
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"Ferocious repression"
Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council, was also in the Egyptian capital for meetings with opposition colleagues and Arab League officials.
"The SNC delegation will demand that the Syrian case be referred to the UN Security Council for a resolution to establish a safe zone and impose a no-fly zone in Syria," the SNC said in a statement.
Western powers remain sharply critical of what French President Nicolas Sarkozy denounced on Friday as Assad's "ferocious repression of his people", but have failed to overcome Chinese and Russian opposition to any Security Council resolution condemning Syria or imposing sanctions.
The United States and the European Union have toughened their own punitive measures, but have shown no desire to mount a Libya-style military intervention to help Assad's opponents, who include both insurgents and peaceful protesters.
Washington warned on Friday that it might soon close its embassy in Syria due to worsening security conditions and said it believed Assad no longer had full control of the country.
US concern about the safety of its mission in Damascus, which was attacked by a pro-Assad crowd in July, intensified after three deadly blasts in the Syrian capital in recent weeks, blamed by Syrian authorities on al-Qaida suicide bombers.
Closing the embassy would not amount to cutting diplomatic ties, but would reduce direct US contacts with Damascus.
A White House spokesman said Assad's fall was "inevitable" and demanded he halt violence against protesters in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have died since March. Syria says 2,000 security personnel have been killed.