Arab foreign ministers will meet on Sunday in Jeddah to discuss developments in Syria and selecting a replacement for Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League envoy, Egyptian state TV said on Saturday.
The meeting comes before Muslim leaders meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit.
"Arab foreign ministers will hold a meeting tomorrow in Jeddah to discuss who will be appointed as a successor to Annan," deputy Arab League chief Ahmed Ben Helli told reporters.
Meanwhile, violent clashes continued on
Saturday in Aleppo’s Salaheddine neighborhood where rebels reported that the
Free Syrian Army has regained control of
“strategic sites” in the neighborhood.
Clashes also erupted in the Tadamon neighborhood,
south Damascus on Saturday, following the Syrian forces’ repeated announcements
that they regained control of the Syrian capital.
The Syrian observatory for Human Rights reported
gunfire and explosions in the Qaboun neighborhood, east Damascus, as well as
shelling in Harasta, in the capital’s outskirts.
In this context,
Forces loyal to President Bashar
al-Assad clashed with rebels in the heart of the capital Damascus near the Syrian
central bank on Saturday, a resident told Reuters.
An explosion was followed by fighting,
said the resident, who asked not to be named for fear of arrest.
Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton headed to Turkey for meetings as both countries plan for Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad's fall.
Clinton and Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu said their two nations would set up a working group to respond
to the crisis in Syria as conditions there deteriorate. They said the group
will coordinate military, intelligence and political responses to the potential
fallout in the case of a chemical attack, which would result in medical
emergencies and a likely rise in the number of refugees fleeing Syria.
Clinton said the group was needed
in order to explore the "real details" of potential new crises. She said
it was now time for "very intensive operational planning."
"We have been closely coordinating
over the course of this conflict, but now we need to get into the real details
of such operational planning. It needs to be across both of our
governments," Clinton said.
Among the contingencies that the
U.S. and Turkey agree on the need to plan for is "the horrible event that
chemical weapons (are) used," Clinton said.
"What would that mean in terms of
response, humanitarian and medical emergency assistance and, of course, what
needs to be done to secure those stocks from ever being used or falling into
the wrong hands?" Clinton said.
AP/REUTERS/LBCI
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