Report: Syria agrees to League observers

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Syria will agree to allow Arab League observers into the country to monitor proposals aimed at ending violence, a Syrian diplomatic source told the BBC Friday.

First, though, Syria, will work out a few adjustments to the league's proposal to protect "the country's sovereignty and dignity," the source said.

At least 19 people were killed by security forces Thursday in Syria, including four soldiers who had defected, the Local Coordination Committees activist group said.

The Arab Lague voted Wednesday to suspend Syria from participating in its meetings and activities until the Syrian government implements all of its commitments under the peace plan proposed by the league last week.

The plan includes the release of prisoners, withdrawal of security forces from the streets and setting up talks between the government and the opposition, the U.N. News Service said.

The BBC said Germany, France and Britain tabled a draft U.N. General Assembly resolution giving U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon authority to provide whatever backup the Arab League requests in enforcing the peace plan.

The draft "condemns the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities," including "arbitrary executions" and torture of children, and calls on Damascus to implement the Arab League plan without delay.

In October, the Security Council failed to pass a resolution condemning the violence, with a rare veto by both Russia and China. But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Thursday Beijing might be open to action against Syria, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Turkey said it was considering a Syrian opposition plea for intervention, despite the risks of being drawn into a war with its neighbor, and the possibility the war could escalate and involve other countries, Istanbul's Sabah newspaper reported.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow weapons being smuggled into Syria through Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Jordan are supporting armed, militant anti-government squads, which were separate from "the peaceful demonstrators, whose strivings and demands we support."

The armed squads "have an entirely different agenda from reform and democracy in Syria," he said. "Their agenda concerns ethnic and tribal interests."

Lavrov said the increased flow of arms to the opposition would lead "to a full-scale civil war."