Arab League calls on U.N. to send soldiers to Syria

People chant slogans during an anti-Syrian regime protest in downtown Brussels, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012. ASSOCIATED PRESS Enlarge

CAIRO -- The Arab League asked the U.N. Security Council on Sunday to send a peacekeeping mission to Syria and called on Arab nations to sever diplomatic relations with the country to pressure Damascus to end the violence.

As the Arab League sought to speed an end to a conflict that appears to be escalating toward civil war, several Islamist groups, including al-Qaeda, called on their followers around the globe to join a jihad against the Syrian government.

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri issued a statement over the weekend urging Muslims in the region -- he specifically mentioned Iraq -- to support the uprising, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi communications.

In addition, al-Qaeda in Iraq, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq, put a statement on its Web site saying, "a lot of Syrians fought side-by-side with the Islamic State of Iraq and it is good news to hear about the arrival of Iraqi fighters to fight with their brethren in Syria."

The group also has advised Syrian rebels to use the type of roadside bombs that proved so deadly in the Iraq war, and "hit-and-run operations."

In Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood called for jihad against the Assad government and support for a rebel army, calling it "an Islamic duty," Agence France-Presse reported.

At a meeting of the Arab League's foreign ministers in Cairo, after the Arab League's own observer mission to Syria failed to end the bloodshed last month, the organization adopted a resolution asking the Security Council to authorize a joint Arab-U.N. force to "supervise the execution of a cease-fire."

The resolution also called on Arab League members to "halt all forms of diplomatic cooperation" with representatives of the Syrian government.

As it has before, the Arab League also called for Syrian military forces to withdraw from the cities and for an immediate end to the killing of Syrian civilians.

The Arab League also sought continued diplomatic efforts. The league's secretary general, Nabil Elaraby, said a joint peacekeeping force "should go hand-in-hand with a political track."

The resolution said the Arab League supported "opening channels of communication with the Syrian opposition and providing all forms of political and financial support to it," although it did not specify what that support would be. Syria immediately dismissed the proposal.

The state news agency reported Sunday night that the government "rejects the Arab League resolution completely."

Meanwhile, the assault on numerous Syrian cities, including Homs and Zabadani, showed no sign of letting up.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition group, said 26 people were killed Sunday, including 14 in Homs and eight government soldiers in Hama.

The Syrian government has long maintained that it is the victim of an assault by extremists from abroad, and although there was scant evidence before, the possibility now seems more likely.

In Aleppo, a common funeral was held for 25 victims of an attack against two security headquarters there on Friday. The perpetrator remained unclear -- no one has claimed responsibility for the attack -- but Sunni extremists, possibly from Iraq, have been blamed for it.

Mr. Elaraby said the situation in Syria required a much larger monitoring mission, drawn from around the Arab world as well as members of the United Nations, and they should be deployed as quickly as possible.

The ministers were considering a force of 3,000 members, according to Arab satellite reports, far larger than the group of some 200 officers sent previously in a mission that was suspended in January.