Doubt hangs over Arab monitoring mission in Syria

Several Arab League monitors have left Syria or may do so soon because the mission has failed to halt President Bashar Assad's violent crackdown on a popular revolt against his rule, an Algerian former monitor said on Thursday.   

Syrian opposition groups say the monitors, who deployed on Dec. 26 to check whether Syria was respecting an Arab peace plan, have only bought Assad more time to crush protests that erupted in March, inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere.   

Anwar Malek, an Algerian who quit the monitoring team this week, said many of his former colleagues shared his chagrin.   

"I cannot specify a number, but many. When you talk to them their anger is clear," he told Reuters by telephone, adding that many could not leave because of orders from their governments.   

He said a Moroccan legal specialist, an aid worker from Djibouti and an Egyptian had also left the mission.   

Their departures could not immediately be confirmed, but another monitor, who asked not to be named, told Reuters he planned to leave Syria on Friday. "The mission does not serve the citizens," he said. "It doesn't serve anything."   

The Arab League, which will hear a full report from the monitors on Jan. 19, is divided over Syria, with Qatar its most vocal critic and Algeria defending steps taken by Damascus.   

The mission, the first of its kind the League has mounted, is led by Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, who has come under fire from rights groups over his role in the Darfur conflict.