EU leaders get tough on Syria while Arab League chief warns of civil war

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday he would speak with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev later in the day to discuss the situation in Syria, which he described as a "scandal."  

Sarkozy said on Saturday Paris was consulting with Arab and European countries to create a Syrian contact group to find a solution to the crisis after Russia and China vetoed a resolution at the U.N. Security Council.  

"France and Germany will not abandon the Syrian people," Sarkozy said after a Franco-German summit in Paris with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  

"What's happening is a scandal. We will not accept that the international community remains blocked," he said, adding that Prime Minister Francois Fillon would also speak to Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin.  

Britain, on the other hand, said it is looking at possible further European Union sanctions on Syria over its crackdown on protests after the Russian and Chinese vetoes.    

"There will be further discussions in the EU on the issue of Syria," said a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron.  

He said Britain was also thinking about alternative ways of applying pressure on the Syrian government through the United Nations, for example through a General Assembly statement rather than a Security Council resolution.  

In regard to the stance of the Arab countries, the head of the Arab League said on Monday the Syrian army's use of heavy weapons against civilians was an escalation that edged the country towards civil war.    

"We follow with great anxiety and irritation developments in the field situation in Syria, and the escalation of military operations in the city of Homs and rural areas of Damascus, and the Syrian armed forces' use of heavy weapons against civilians," Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said in a statement.    

In the statement published by the Egyptian state news agency, Elaraby said the escalation took the crisis in Syria in "a serious direction", adding that it pushed "conditions towards civil war". 

Reuters/ LBCI