AMMAN (Reuters) – Qatar has proposed sending Arab troops to halt the bloodshed in Syria, where violence has raged on despite the presence of Arab League monitors sent to check if an Arab peace plan is working.
Asked if he was in favour of Arab nations intervening in Syria, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told the US broadcaster CBS: “For such a situation to stop the killing … some troops should go to stop the killing.”
The emir, whose country backed last year’s NATO campaign that helped Libyan rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi, is the first Arab leader to propose Arab military intervention in Syria where protesters are demanding President Bashar al-Assad stand down.
CBS said on its website that the interview would be broadcast in its “60 Minutes” programme today.
Qatar’s prime minister heads the Arab League committee on Syria and has said killings have not stopped despite the presence of Arab monitors sent there last month.
In the preview of the interview on the website, the emir did not spell out how any Arab military intervention might work.
There is little appetite in the West for any Libya-style intervention in Syria, although France has talked of a need to set up zones to protect civilians there.
The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed since protests against Assad erupted in March. Syrian officials say 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed by armed “terrorists”.
In the latest violence, Syrian tanks and troops renewed an assault on the rebel-held hill town of Zabadani near the border with Lebanon yesterday, causing about 40 casualties, an opposition leader said, citing residents reached by telephone.
