Syria calls for urgent Arab summit

Syria on Sunday called for an urgent Arab summit to address the ongoing crisis in the country, locked for eight months in a virtual stalemate between protesters and regime security forces, saying any turmoil against Damascus would swallow up the whole region.

"Syria.... still sees the Arab initiative as an adequate framework for tackling the Syrian crisis away from foreign interference, despite all the holes and the deficiencies of practical mechanism that should have been agreed upon between the Syrian government and the ministerial committee," said a foreign ministry spokesman.

He said in a terse statement carried by the state-run news agency that the "repercussions" of the Syrian issue "would harm the national security and severely damage the common Arab work."

"Thus, we call for an immediate Arab summit assigned to deal with the Syrian crisis and value the negative impacts on the Arab situation," said the official, who welcomed a visit by the ministerial committee -- alongside military and civilian experts in addition to Arab media -- before Wednesday, the deadline for the Arab League's latest resolution, to see facts on the ground.

The Arab League decided on Saturday to suspend Syria's membership in its meetings on the basis that the Syrian government was pressing ahead with a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations and failing to open a dialogue with its opponents despite its peace plan brokered on November 2.

The United Nations says more than 3,500 people have been killed in seven months of violence.

The Arab League said it would impose economic and political sanctions on Damascus and had appealed to member states to withdraw their Ambassadors.

The Syrian spokesman urged Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil Arabi to act "immediately."