Former Arab Observer Says Other Monitors Have Quit Mission
Several Arab League monitors have left Syria or may do so soon because the mission has failed to halt President Bashar al-Assad’s violent crackdown on a popular revolt against his rule, a former monitor said. Anwar Malek, an Algerian who quit the monitoring team this week, said a Moroccan legal specialist, an aid worker from Djibouti and an Egyptian had left the mission. Syrian opposition groups say the monitors, who arrived in Syria on Dec. 26 to verify Syria’s compliance with an Arab peace plan, have only given Mr. Assad more time to crush the protests. The observers resumed work on Thursday, a league official said, for the first time since 11 of them were wounded by pro-Assad demonstrators in Latakia on Monday.