Syria signs Arab League deal to allow in monitors

Syria's foreign minister said the government in Damascus wanted a "political solution"

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Syria Crisis

• Russia's calibrated support for Syria
• Syria voices: Voting amid violence
• Inching towards civil war
• The view from next door

Syria has signed an agreement to allow observers to monitor its implementation of an Arab League initiative to end the crackdown on anti-government protests.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the deal had been signed at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo.

He said the Arab League had accepted amendments demanded by Damascus.

The Arab League had threatened to ask the UN Security Council to adopt its peace plan to end the crackdown, which has left more than 5,000 people dead.

Human rights activists said security forces had killed at least six civilians on Monday, including three in al-Quriya, near the south-eastern city of Deir al-Zour.

They were shot dead during clashes between troops and army defectors, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The other three deaths were reported in the southern province of Deraa.

At least 15 civilians and six soldiers were killed on Sunday, activists said.

'Model of democracy'

At a news conference in Damascus, Mr Muallem said the Syrian government had agreed to the Arab League's peace initiative because it wanted a "political solution to [the] crisis in order to emerge from it in the best way possible".

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They will come and see that [armed groups] are present... We must not be afraid at all”

Walid MuallemSyrian Foreign Minister

"We want t... build a safe, modern Syria - a Syria that will be a model of democracy," he added.

"The signing of the protocol is the beginning of co-operation between us and the Arab League and we will welcome monitors."

Mr Muallem said Syria's sovereignty would be protected because the Arab League had agreed to amendments to the deal, which also calls for the withdrawal of troops from urban centres and the release of political prisoners.

Correspondents say the Arab League has agreed to Syria's demand that the observers co-ordinate their activities with the local authorities.

Mr Muallem said he was confident that the observers would support the Syrian government's assertion that foreign-backed extremists and armed criminal gangs were stirring up trouble and targeting security personnel.

"There are many countries in the world who don't wish to admit the presence of terrorist armed groups in Syria," he said. "They will come and see that they are present. We must not be afraid at all."

He also revealed that Russia had advised Syria to ratify the plan.

Moscow, a long-time ally of Damascus, surprised Western nations last week by drafting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to the violence.

Activists say more than 900 people have died while Syria wavered on whether to agree to the plan

Officials at the Arab League confirmed that Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad had signed the agreement in Cairo, in the presence of the organisation's Secretary General, Nabil al-Arabi.

For several weeks, Syria wavered on whether to agree to the initiative, prompting the Arab League to announce a range of economic sanctions.

In that time, more than 900 civilians have been killed by Syrian security forces, including 80 children and 29 women, according to the Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist group that documents and organises anti-government protests.

Meanwhile, a Syrian media rights organisation says that a well-known Syrian-American blogger who was arrested earlier this month has been released on bail of $300 (£193).

The Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression says that Razan Ghazzawi was allowed to leave prison late on Sunday evening.

The group is now calling for the charges against her to be dropped. They include accusations of setting up an organisation that seeks to change the social and economic status of the country.

Ms Ghazzawi has run her blog from Damascus since 2009, calling for democratic reform.