Arab League May Seek UN Vote on Syria That Russia Can’t Veto

A Syrian rebel runs for cover during an exchange of fire with army troops, unseen, in Idlib, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012. The European Union will impose harsher sanctions on Syria, a senior EU official said Wednesday, as Russia tried to broker talks between the vice president and the opposition to calm violence. Activists reported at least 50 killed in the regime's siege of the restive city of Homs. (AP Photo)

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — The Arab League may seek approval in the United Nations’ 193-member General Assembly of its plan for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside, after Russia vetoed the initiative in the Security Council, UN diplomats said.

The 22-member League, which has suspended Syria and imposed economic sanctions on the country, is looking for fresh ways to intensify pressure on Assad and may seek a vote in the General Assembly by Feb. 17, according to two senior UN diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans haven’t been made final.

Failure by the UN’s decision-making body to deliver international condemnation of Assad’s deadly crackdown on protesters has left his neighbors and their Western allies with dwindling options on how to end a conflict that the UN estimates has killed more than 5,400 people since it began in March last year.

Full story: Arab League May Seek UN Vote on Syria That Russia Can’t Veto