Syria inches closer to civil war as reign of violent terror escalates

January 10, 2012 – SYRIA – Violence continues to mount in Syria along with the international pressure on the regime of Bashar Assad, while the opposition claims the Arab League’s observer mission is only giving the regime more time to crush the dissent. It a Sunday review meeting in Cairo, the Arab League urged Damascus to halt its crackdown, saying the Assad government had only partially implemented pledges it agreed to in a peace plan. Despite the fact that the League is planning to bring more observers into the country, raising the number to 200, the Syrian opposition slams the monitors for failing to stop the violence. “The initial report is too vague, and it essentially buys the regime more time,” said Rima Fleihan, a member of the Syrian National Council, quoted by Reuters. “We need to know what the League will do if the regime continues its crackdown in the presence of the monitors. At some point it needs to refer Syria to the UN Security Council.” Earlier, the Muslim Brotherhood accused the Arab League of seeking to “cover up” the Assad regime’s crimes. “It is clear that the observer mission in Syria seeks to cover up the crimes of the Syrian regime by giving it the time and opportunity to kill our people and break their will,” Brotherhood spokesman Zuhair Salem said on Monday. Also on Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the ongoing violence in the neighboring state, saying the conflict is sliding toward “civil war” and must be stopped. He spoke Monday at a joint news conference with Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Ankara. Stoltenberg stressed the need to increase international pressure to force Assad to step down.Dr Benjamin Barber, senior fellow at American think-tank Demos, told RT that the Arab League is powerless in dealing with Syria without Western support. –RT News