Asia

Asia

Syrian crisis tops agenda of AL ministerial meeting in Cairo

06 March 2013 19:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Syrian crisis topped the agenda of an Arab League (AL) ministerial meeting Wednesday in Egypt's capital of Cairo, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

In the opening session of the meeting, Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour demanded to cancel the decision of suspending Syria's membership in the AL and to recontact the Syrian government to reach a peaceful solution to the long-time crisis.

"The Arab countries failed over 15 meetings to solve the Syrian crisis, but only succeeded in suspending the Syrian delegation's partnership in the AL meetings," said Mansour in his statement.

Meanwhile, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim argued in a short speech that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is responsible for the bloodshed in Syria, adding that the Arab states had exerted much efforts to help him get out of the crisis.

According to sources in the AL, Lebanon's demand to get Syria back in the AL aimed at shutting the door for those who ask for giving the seat of Syria in the AL to the Syrian opposition.

Meanwhile, AL Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi warned against wasting chances of reaching agreement to solve the Syrian crisis, saying that it would badly affect Syria and the whole region.

"Wasting chances to solve the Syrian crisis will leave extremely dangerous effects on Syria and will inevitably affect the future of the security and stability in the region," said al- Arabi in the opening session of the meeting.

"The Syrian government should take a decisive action and actually respond to the initiation of Moaz al-Khatib (the head of the Syrian opposition coalition in exile)," al-Arabi added.

Headed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, the AL meeting reportedly discussed the latest developments of the Syrian crisis, the Palestinian issue, especially the Israeli settlement practices, and the agenda of the AL Summit on March 26 and 27 in Qatar. "The meeting will also discuss Libya's suggestion of supporting the unrest-hit countries to get back the money smuggled abroad," a source in the AL told Xinhua.