New Arab Deadline For Syria As At Least 20 Killed

Arab nations have given Syria until Wednesday to allow monitors into the country or else it will likely turn to the U.N. Security Council for action to try to end the deadly crisis, Qatar’s prime minister said Saturday. Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani said in Doha that Arab foreign ministers will hold a “decisive and important” meeting in Cairo on Wednesday to decide on next steps.

According to the AP, he said there is near unanimity on taking the Arab League’s plan to the Security Council. “We hope that the brothers in Syria sign before that date,” Hamad said. The violence continued Saturday.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces shot dead at least 20 people, most of them in the central province of Homs. Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said 34 people were killed, including eight army defectors.