Arab League rejects Syria’s peace plan proposals

The Cairo-based League had given Syria three days from a meeting on November 16 to agree to withdraw military forces from cities, start talks between the government and opposition and pave the way for an observer team of up to 500.

The League had set a Saturday deadline for Syria to comply with the plan and threatened sanctions if Assad failed to end the violence. The group of Arab states suspended Syria’s membership in a surprise move last week.

However, signalling no retreat, President Assad allowed yesterday’s deadline to pass, signalling no end in sight for the eight month uprising against his family’s 41-year rule.

Damascus attacks

President Assad’s defiance came as unconfirmed reports emerged of the first insurgent attacks in the capital city of Damascus.

Two rocket-propelled grenades hit a major ruling party building in the capital on Sunday, residents said. The Syrian Free Army, army defectors based in neighbouring Turkey, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Baath Party building in Damascus.

“Security police blocked off the square where the Baath’s Damascus branch is located. But I saw smoke rising from the building and fire trucks around it,” said a witness who declined to be named.

“The attack was just before dawn and the building was mostly empty. It seems to have been intended as a message to the regime,” he said.

The attack could not be independently confirmed, as the authorities have barred most independent journalists from entering the country during the revolt.

Non-Arab Turkey, once an ally of Assad, is also taking an increasingly tough attitude to Damascus. Turkish newspapers said Ankara had contingency plans to create no-fly or buffer zones to protect civilians in neighbouring Syria if the bloodshed worsens.

‘Conflict will continue’

Assad however said he had no choice but to pursue his military crackdown on street protesters, who seek an end his rule.

“The conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue. Syria will not bow down,” the president told The Sunday Times newspaper in an interview.

“The only way is to search for the armed people, chase the armed gangs, prevent the entry of arms and weapons from neighbouring countries, prevent sabotage and enforce law and order,” he said.

The conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue. Syria will not bow down. President Assad

Assad said there would be elections in February or March when Syrians would vote for a parliament to create a new constitution and that would include provision for a presidential ballot.

The attack in Damascus is the second hit on a high profile target in a week, underscoring a growing opposition challenge to Assad – who blames “armed terrorist acts” for the unrest – from a nascent insurgency alongside mostly peaceful protests that have persisted despite the intensifying crackdown.

Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, is a member of the Alawite minority community, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam that dominates the state, the army and security apparatus in the majority Sunni Muslim country of 20 million.

The Syrian Free Army said the attack was a response to the authorities’ refusal to release tens of thousands of political prisoners and pull the military out of restive cities as stipulated by a plan agreed between the Arab League and Damascus.