The Arab League has sent a 10-member advance team to Syria to ensure that monitors will have free access across the country.
The Arab League has sent an advance team to Syria to prepare for the arrival of observers who will monitor the compliance of President Bashar al-Assad's regime with the League's demand to end clashes with opposition forces.
The 10-member team, headed by top League official Samir Seif al-Yazal, includes financial, administrative and legal experts, according to the Reuters news agency, and is tasked with ensuring the monitors will have open access and be able to move freely about the country.The deal includes Assad's agreement to end the fighting, withdrawal of government troops from residential areas, a release of political prisoners and the start of a dialogue with the opposition.
The Arab League monitors are expected to assess whether the Assad regime is living up to its promises to end the bloody nine-month crackdown on anti-government protesters.More than 5,000 people have been killed by government forces since the uprising began in mid-March, ignited by the Arab Spring demonstrations that swept across the region and toppled governments in at least four other Arab countries.
In Syria, the chaos began with a simple act of grafitti scrawled by a youth on a wall in Dara'a -- and the Assad government's brutal response.