An-Nahar: Moallem will hold press conference today

An-Nahar daily reported that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem will hold a press conference on Monday at noon. The newspaper added that Moallem will discuss the protocol and the relations with the Arab League and tackle the latest developments including the Russian draft law on Syria submitted to the UN Security Council.

The permanent envoys to the Arab League will hold a meeting on Tuesday in the league’s headquarters in Cairo to be briefed on the outcome of the ministerial meeting on Syria held in Doha on Saturday. The envoys will also look into the possibility of opening a bureau for the league in Libya and read a report regarding the visit of the Arab League Secretary General Nabil el-Araby to Iarq.

An-Nahar stated that Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour will oppose the decision taken by Arab Foreign Minister to submit the Syrian case to the UNSC.

Mansour received an invitation to represent Lebanon in the extraordinary meeting that will be held on December 21 after having received a memorandum from the league’s General Secretariat through Lebanon’s permanent representative to the league. The meeting was set for 11 a.m. on Wednesday in Vermont hotel near Cairo’s airport due to the unstable security situation in Tahrir square, which is located near the league’s headquarters.The meeting aims at discussing the measures to be taken if Damascus refuses to sign the deal to establish a legitimate headquarters and allow Arab observers to monitor the bloody situation in Syria.

An-Nahar quoted diplomatic sources as saying that in case the Syrian case is deferred to the UNSC, the participants will certainly be divided between those opposing it and those endorsing it while the ministerial committee unanimously adopted it in Doha. 

According to sources from Doha and other Arab capitals, signs are pointing at the fact that Damascus will accept the deadline/warning addressed by the head of the committee, Qatari PM and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jaber Al Thani. Sheikh Hamad gave Syria until Wednesday to sign the protocol.