Beirut (dpa) – The United Nations has received a formal request from the Arab League to start training observers monitoring the crackdown in Syria, Arab media reported Tuesday, quoting UN sources. The training is to be conducted by staff from the UN High Commissioner or Human Rights, according to Dubai-based broadcaster Al Arabiya. The current monitoring mission in Syria is due to submit its second report to the Arab League on Thursday, ahead of an Arab foreign ministers' meeting on Saturday in Cairo to decide the future of the mission. Some 165 Arab observers have been deployed in Syria since late December to try to verify if Damascus is complying with an Arab League deal to halt its crackdown on protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. On Monday UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: “The casualties have reached such an unacceptable stage we cannot let the situation continue this way. I hope the UN Security Council handles Syria in a coherent manner and with a sense of gravity.” But Ban did not recommend any specific UN action. More than 5,000 people have died since government crackdown on dissidents began, according to UN estimates. Syrian authorities accuse “terrorists” of causing the violence, saying 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed. On Tuesday, the Syrian opposition reported more defections among the Syrian army. Brigadier General Mustafa Ahmed al-Sheikh was shown in a clip posted on YouTube, showing his identity card to a cheering crowd and standing in front of the green, white and black flags of the opposition. But despite the defections, military experts still believe that President al-Assad is largely in control of his 300,000 troops. The Syrian Free Army, which groups defectors, called on Monday “for immediate UN interference in the Syrian crisis.” Meanwhile, activists said Tuesday that the Syrian army was continuing for the third consecutive day its shelling of areas in the western Zabadani region, prompting hundreds of residents to flee. Buses loaded with people and their belongings were seen in videos posted on opposition websites, fleeing the Zabadani area, near the eastern Syrian-Lebanese border. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/xIRtY Tags: Arab League, Assad, Observers, United Nations Section: Latest News, Syria
