Arabs back European resolution against Syria tabled at United Nations (VIDEO)
The empty seat of Syrian delegation is seen during a meeting comprising of Arab league Member states and Turkey to discuss a response to the crackdown in Syria, in Rabat on November 16, 2011.
Arab nations have backed a UN resolution tabled by Germany, France and the UK calling for an end to human rights violations in Syria and the implementation of an Arab League plan to end the violence.
According to The Associated Press:
A UN resolution that would condemn Syria's human rights violations has received strong support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Morocco — and its European sponsors are hoping more Arab nations will back it.
The tabling of the resolution comes a day after the Arab League gave Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a deadline of three days to halt his "bloody repression" of the 8-month-old uprising against his rule or face sanctions.
(GlobalPost reports: Arab League gives Syria three days to halt "bloody repression")
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reportedly said Assad's regime would pay dearly for the deadly crackdown it has unleashed on its own people. "The Syrian regime is going to pay very dearly for what it has done," Davutoglu told journalists in Rabat, where Arab League ministers were to discuss sanctions against the Damascus regime.
With the UN Security Council divided on Syria, the resolution has been tabled in a committee of the General Assembly, where there are no vetoes, the BBC reported.
It indicates that European nations are looking for a new route to condemn the Syrian government, according to the BBC, after China and Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning government violence in Syria.
However, in a move that might signal a new stance by Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly said the Syrian violence was becoming "similar to civil war."
"He was speaking a day after renegade soldiers were reported to have attacked a key government army base outside Damascus," the BBC reported.
Western diplomats said they hoped to put the resolution to a vote next Tuesday and, if approved, it is expected to be adopted by the 193-member General Assembly.