CAIRO, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, who is leading the Arab League monitoring team to assess whether Syria is acting to end a bloody nine-month crackdown on protests, said on Saturday he would travel there later in the day.
Dabi was speaking to reporters at the League’s Cairo headquarters after talks with League chief Nabil Elaraby. The first batch of about 50 monitors is expected to travel to Syria on Monday.
Galvanised by a soaring death toll after Syria turned troops and tanks on anti-government protests, Arab states have pushed Damascus to let in a team of about 150 observers to witness what is happening on the ground.
But a day after League officials arrived to prepare for monitors, twin suicide car bombings struck Damascus, killing 44 people in the bloodiest violence in the capital since the anti-government revolt began in March.
"I am optimistic that the mission of the monitors will be successful and that events such as yesterday’s blasts in Damascus will not affect the mission," Dabi told reporters.
President Bashar al-Assad has unleashed tanks and troops to try to crush nine months of street protests inspired by other Arab uprisings this year.
Mainly peaceful rallies are now increasingly eclipsed by an armed insurgency against his military and security apparatus.
But Friday’s blasts in central Damascus signalled a dramatic escalation in violence, which Syrian authorities blame on armed groups they say have killed 2,000 soldiers and security force members this year. The United Nations says Assad’s crackdown has killed 5,000 people.
The mission of Arab League monitors is the first of its kind for an organisation characterised until recently by uncritical support for its member states’ mostly autocratic rulers.
The government of Assad agreed at the start of November to a plan demanding an end to fighting, the withdrawal of troops from residential areas, the release of prisoners and the start of a dialogue with the opposition.
It balked for six weeks over letting in monitors before finally signing a protocol on monitors on Monday.
