Arab League prepares for Syria sanctions

Arab League prepares for Syria sanctions

Syrian forces killed four people in Homs city on Saturday, activists said, shortly before Arab ministers were due to draw up sanctions against Damascus over its crackdown on protests and failure to let observers into the country.

Damascus missed a Friday deadline to agree an Arab League proposal to send monitors to Syria, where the United Nations says 3,500 people have been killed in the eight-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Despite Syria's pledge this month to withdraw its army from urban areas and let in the monitors, the violence has continued, prompting reprisals from the Arab League, stinging rebukes from Turkey and French proposals for humanitarian intervention.

Damascus, where the Assad family has ruled for 41 years, says regional powers helped incite the violence, which it blames on armed groups targeting civilians and its security forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people, including a 10-year-old child, were killed on Saturday in separate incidents across Homs, a centre of increasing opposition to Assad and deepening sectarian violence. Read More