Thaindian News

Cairo, Nov 7 (IANS) The Arab League announced Monday that it had received a message from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, which accused the United States of involvement in the violence in Syria since mid-March.

According to a statement issued by the League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi, the message was addressed to the mediating Arab ministerial committee dealing with the situation in Syria, reported Xinhua, citing Egyptian official news agency MENA.

The message contained a Syrian response to a statement by the US State Department spokesman on Nov 4 urging Syrian people not to surrender their weapons to Syrian authorities.

The Syrian foreign minister said this meant the United States was practically involved in the violence in Syria to delay Arab League’s work to find a solution to the Syrian crisis.

Arabi received the message from Muallem earlier Monday, which regards measures taken by Syrian government to bring the crisis to a close, and AL has distributed the message to all Arab countries immediately upon its receipt, said AL deputy chief Ahmed Bin Helli.

The message also mentioned measures adopted so far by Syrian government within the framework of implementing the Arab initiative for the settlement of the Syrian crisis, he added.

An emergency Arab League ministerial meeting to be held this Saturday will focus on “the continuing violence and the government’s failure to stick to its obligations under the Arab Action Plan to solve the crisis in Syria”.

The nearly seven months of crisis in Syria has brought hardship to the life of Syrians as revenues from tourism, worker remittance and foreign investment plunged sharply since the beginning of the unrest.

Syrian government has faced mounting international pressure, including economic sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union, for its response to protesters.