Exclusive- Second Arab monitor may quit Syria over violence: ‘The military gear is still present even in the mosques’
An Arab monitor said on Wednesday he might quit a fraying Arab League team of observers in Syria because the mission was proving ineffectual in ending civilians’ suffering there, exposing rifts in an Arab peace effort.
His comments come a day after Anwar Malek, an Algerian observer, told Al Jazeera TV he had quit Syria because the peace mission was a “farce.”
Malek’s departure was a blow to the mission, already criticized by Syria’s opposition as a toothless body that only served to buy President Bashar al-Assad time.
Its work has already been hampered by an attack on monitors in the western port of Latakia this week that lightly wounded 11 and prompted the League to delay sending new observers to Syria to join about 165 already there.
Another resignation would further undermine its credibility.
Asked if he agreed with Malek’s characterization of the mission as a failure, the monitor said: “It is true, it is true. Even I am trying to leave on Friday. I’m going to Cairo or elsewhere… because the mission is unclear…. It does not serve the citizens. It does not serve anything.”
“The Syrian authorities have exploited the weakness in the performance of the delegation to not respond. There is no real response on the ground.”
The monitor, speaking by telephone from Syria, asked not to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
“The military gear is still present even in the mosques. We asked that military equipment be withdrawn from the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq mosque in Deraa and until today they have not withdrawn.”