Iran supports joint mission for Syria

TEHRAN, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Iran sees a joint U.N.-Arab League observer mission for Syria as useful policy to promote Syria's reform plans, a senior diplomat said.

Arab League delegates called on the United Nations to assist with the reinstatement of its observer mission in Syria. Arab League observers left Syria recently because of ongoing violence.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's deputy minister for Arab affairs, said the joint mission was "useful" but stressed Syria needs to find its own solutions to the problem, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reports.

The minister added that action by Western governments to pull their diplomats out of Damascus was only adding to the complications in Syria.

"I left Damascus with immense sadness and regret," said Robert Ford, the U.S. envoy to Damascus, in a message posted on his Facebook page. "I wish our departure had not been necessary, but our embassy, along with several other diplomatic missions in the area, was not sufficiently protected, given the new security concerns in the capital."

Syrian violence continued Friday in the northern city of Aleppo. The official Syrian Arab News Agency reports at least 28 people were killed and 235 were wounded in a "twin terrorist bombing."

The U.N. Security Council has been unable to get around objections from China and Russia to censure Damascus for the violence. Human rights officials said inaction gave the regime tacit approval to continue its assault on civilians opposing the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.