Arab Monitor Chief Resigns; Al Qaeda Supports Syrian Revolt

The head of the Arab League observer mission to Syria, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, resigned, a source told AFP on Sunday. The Sudanese was much criticized for his reports as the Syrian opposition said he was biased to the regime.

On the ground, more than 30 Syrian army tanks were seen heading Sunday to the rebel city of Homs in which four people were killed Sunday morning, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Three people were killed in the district of Baba Amr, one of the most affected areas since the beginning of the assault a week ago.

Meanwhile, the funerals of the victims of Friday’s double attack in Aleppo were held on Sunday. These attacks, the first of its kind in the country’s second city, had left at least 28 dead and over 230 injured. It is believed they were carried out by al Qaeda activists who infiltrated into Syria.

U.S. officials estimated that al-Qaeda in Iraq was behind the recent bombings that hit Damascus and Aleppo. The American reports confirm the statements by Syrian officials. In a related matter, the leader of al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri has expressed his support for the revolt in Syria, in a videotape posted on jihadist forums, reported Sunday the U.S. center for monitoring Islamist websites, SITE.

In his video, entitled “Forward, the lions of Syria,” Ayman al-Zawahiri accused the Syrian regime of crimes against its citizens and praised those who rebel against the government, according to the SITE. In his video posted Saturday and lasting more than eight minutes, Zawahiri encourages the Syrians not to trust the Arab or Western governments, which he said would impose a regime beholden to the West.