Arab League mission returns to Syria

The monitoring mission of the Arab League (LAS) will return to Syria, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said after a conversation with LAS head Nabil el-Araby, RIA Novosti reports.

The secretary general condemned Russia and China for vetoing the resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Damascus and met President Bashar al-Assad on February 7. Russian Intelligence Chief Mikhail Fradkov was part of the delegation. Assad assured Lavrov of striving to end the violence.

Russian and French Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Nikolas Sarkozy exchanged views on Syria in a telephone conversation last night. Sarkozy urged Medvedev to support the LAS plan for Syria.

Dmitry Medvedev had a conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They agreed to coordinate their efforts.

French Ambassador to Russia Jean de Gliniasti had an interview with Kommersant and noted concerns over Moscow’s position on Syria. He noted devotion to democratic mechanisms and believes that even the Muslim Brotherhood could abandon current slogans and take up a less radical policy.

US Senator John McCain proposed studies of weapon supplies to the Syrian opposition, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, spokeswoman of the State Department Victoria Nuland said. She noted that the US is considering the formation of a group of states supporting democracy in Syria. A similar group was formed and caused the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya.

Russian Parliamentary Speaker Sergey Naryshkin said that Russia will set the date for talks on Syria.

Syria has been experiencing continued anti-government protests for 9 and a half months. The UN said that over 5,000 people had died. The Syrian authorities said that over 2,000 servicemen and police officers have died in clashes with the opposition. The government believes that the disorders were caused by foreign militants.

LAS sent monitors to Syria on December 26, 2011. The mission was prolonged at a meeting in Cairo on January 23. The mission was stopped due to increasing violence.

Russia and China blocked the resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council for the second time on Saturday. They do not want the situation to resemble the processes in Libya and foreign intervention.

Russian representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin said that Russia wants LAS to continue the mission in Syria. The monitoring mission helped get a better image of the situation.