Arab League studies Syria's letter

The Arab League is consulting its member states on Syria's conditional offer to allow an observer mission into the country, the bloc's chief said yesterday. Nabeel Al Arabi said in Cairo that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mua'allem had sent him a letter agreeing to sign off on the monitors "but with conditions and demands." We've contacted Arab foreign ministers and they have been apprised of the Syrian letter, he said. Al Arabi did not explain Syria's conditions, but said Mua'allem's letter contained "new demands." But, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency, Mua'allem said in the letter that Damascus would agree to let in the observers provided the bloc restored Syrian membership and ended the sanctions in an agreement signed in Damascus, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdesi said in Damascus: "The protocol is intended to be signed soon". "The Syrian government has responded positively ...I am optimistic, although I await the Arab League response first." Earlier, Al Arabi said Syria's letter agreeing to sign the protocol on condition it's signed in Damascus "will not lead to suspending Arab sanctions". In a display of muscle that could be intended to deter any idea of foreign military intervention in the crisis, the army staged a big exercise with missiles, rockets, tanks and helicopters. In continued violence, five civilians were killed yesterday, according to human rights activists.