Arab League Syria mission head resigns

The Arab League has accepted the resignation of the head of its observer mission to Syria, an official reported on Sunday.

The resignation of Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi was due to be officially announced in Cairo later in the day, as Arab League foreign ministers meet to discuss fresh international efforts to end the bloody crackdown in the 11-month conflict.

The Arab League is set to discuss a possible joint United Nations-Arab monitoring team, to replace a mission by the League which was called off last month following intensified violence.

The meeting will also consider appointing a UN-Arab envoy for Syria and discuss a proposal to officially recognize the exiled opposition group, the Syrian National Council.

Plans are also expected to be raised for a "Friends of Syria" coalition of Arab and Western countries, to explore ways of further isolating the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said renewed fighting in the besieged central province of Homs on Sunday resulted in the deaths of at least five people, most of them civilians. On Saturday, the Observatory put the death toll for the day across the country at 45.

State media reported Saturday that an army general had been shot dead outside his Damascus home, the latest example of violence spreading to the capital. Tensions were also reported to be high in the country's second-largest city, Aleppo, where security was increased after a twin car bombing killed 28 on Friday.

Rare negotiated settlement

Meanwhile, in a rare truce, Assad's forces were reported to have entered the besieged town of Zabadani, near the border with Lebanon, after agreeing to a ceasefire with rebels.

As part of an agreement reached after a week-long bombardment that killed some 100 people in the town, rebel forces were being allowed to leave if they surrendered their weapons.

Violence that has spilled over into neighboring Lebanon continued on Friday and Saturday. A 17-year-old girl was among three people reported killed in clashes between Sunni Muslims hostile to Assad and Alawites who support him.

Rival factions in the north Lebanese town of Tripoli fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades at each other in the worst cross-border violence since June.

cmk/rc/pfd (AFP, Reuters, dpa)