Let ARAB LEAGUE handle this
Syrians living in Turkey protest in front of Syria's embassy in Ankara, as French and Turkish foreign ministers met for talks. Photograph: Osman Orsal/Reuters
France and Turkey have kept up pressure on Syria to comply with international demands to end violence against protests. But the Damascus regime signalled that it was still ready to accept an Arab League observer mission to monitor a highly volatile situation.
As now routine Friday protests erupted across Syria – with initial reports of seven dead – Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said after talks in Turkey that the UN security council must act. The council has so far failed to pass even a resolution condemning Syria, largely because of Russian and Chinese opposition to any outside intervention in what is increasingly being characterised as a "civil war".
Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, also called for greater pressure to stop what he called the "massacre". The UN says at least 3,500 people have been killed in the eight-month uprising. Syria's government says more than 1,000 security force personnel have died, blaming "armed terrorist gangs" it claims are supported by outside forces.
On Wednesday, at a meeting in Rabat, the Arab League formally suspended Syria and gave it three days to accept a plan for an observer mission and release prisoners or face unspecified economic sanctions.
Speaking from Damascus, a senior Syrian diplomatic source told the Guardian that the government was prepared to accept a mission in principle but had expressed reservations to "close loopholes" to protect its "national sovereignty". Syria had been unable to express its view because its foreign minister, Walid al-Mouallem, had been excluded from the Rabat meeting.
"The ball is now in the court of the Arab League," the source said.
While the diplomatic manoeuvring continued, reports from Syria described heavy gunfire in the Damascus neighbourhood of Douma; demonstrations in Deraa, Latakia and Aleppo; and power and communications blackouts near Idlib in the north. Human rights and activist groups reported seven dead in the Damascus area, as well as killings in Homs and Hama.
Syria's official news agency, Sana, reported two security personnel had been killed in an explosion in Hama and that 10 "wanted terrorists" had been captured in Maaret al-Numan.
The slogan for this Friday's demonstrations demands the expulsion of Syrian ambassadors from foreign capitals – part of a strategy of seeking to undermine the legitimacy of the Assad regime.
Syrian activists were quoted by a Lebanese website as saying the authorities had arrested the director of the Sana office in Deir Al-Zour after he resigned in protest against the regime's handling of protests
