European and Arab nations hammered out a UN Security Council draft resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on dissent as Gulf Arab monitors headed out of the country on Wednesday after their governments said they were “certain the bloodshed and killing of innocents would continue”. The Arab League has sought UN support for a plan to end President Bashar Al-Assad's rule. Damascus warned against foreign interference. But despite its show of defiance, Syria still agreed to extend an Arab League observer mission for a second month. League officials had warned that without Syrian agreement the monitoring mission, already depleted by the withdrawal of the six oil-rich Gulf states, would be confined to base from Wednesday. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Tuesday delivered a stinging attack on the League after its weekend call for President Bashar Al-Assad to hand power to his deputy and clear the way for a unity government within two months. Western governments have capitalized on the Arab League's tough new stance to launch another drive for UN Security Council action after previous efforts were blocked by Beijing and Moscow. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim Al-Thani, who heads the League's committee on Syria, wrote jointly to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon setting out the plan for a political solution in Syria.The letter asks for a “joint meeting between them in the UN headquarters to inform the Security Council about developments and obtain the support of the Council for this plan,” a League statement said. Several diplomats at the United Nations said France and Britain were working with Qatar and other Arab delegations on a new draft resolution supporting the Arab League plan. The Arab League call for Assad to step down will raise pressure on Russia to explain why it is still blocking UN action to stop the bloodshed in Syria. Moscow has called for a dialogue.
