Around 400 Syrians were killed within 10 days from the monitors’ arrival
The Arab League mission that was meant to ensure that the Syrian regime would keep its promise to ease its crackdown on protestors ended on Thursday. The 22-member League must now decide how to proceed, amid accusations that its monitors have been ineffectual in the face of continuing violence, the Los Angeles Times reports. As the mission drew to a close, the monitors were said to be mostly confined to their hotel rooms, while bloody reprisals by the Syrian military against anti-government protestors continued. More than 400 people were killed within ten days of the monitors arriving in Syria, and there were 26 reported casualties on the last day of their mission on Thursday, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees. The Arab League is expected to renew the mission, under Sudanese Lt. Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Dabi, when Arab foreign ministers meet in Cairo on Sunday. Some activists and observers, including at least one former monitor, have recommended the matter be referred to the United Nations Security Council, amid suspicions that the current monitoring mission is merely providing cover for Damascus to continue with the killings.