Syria says reaches deal with Arab League on unrest

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Syria said yesterday it had  reached a deal with an Arab League committee tasked with finding  a way to end seven months of unrest and starting a dialogue  between President Bashar al-Assad and his opponents.

State media reported the deal, without giving details,  saying an official announcement of the agreement would be made  at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo today.

The United Nations says more than 3,000 people have been  killed in Assad’s crackdown on an uprising which erupted in  March against his rule, inspired by revolutions which have  toppled three Arab leaders this year.

The government blames militants who it says are armed and  financed from abroad for the violence and says they have killed  1,100 members of the security forces.

Arab League ministers met Syrian officials in Qatar on  Sunday to seek a way to end the bloodshed.

Arab diplomats said the ministers proposed that Syria  release immediately prisoners held since February, withdraw  security forces from the streets, permit deployment of Arab  League monitors and start a dialogue with the opposition.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani,  whose country heads the ministerial committee, also said Assad  must launch serious reforms if Syria were to avoid further  violence.

A Lebanese official with close ties to the Syrian government  said Syria had put forward its own proposals to the Arab League.

“The Syrian authorities want the opposition to drop weapons,  the Arab states to end their funding for the weapons and the  opposition, and an end to the media campaign against Syria,” the  official told Reuters.

It was not clear how much those demands were reflected in  the final agreement announced by Syria’s state media.