Tens of thousands of Syrians protested on Monday in state-backed rallies against unprecedented economic sanctions imposed by the Arab League over President Bashar al-Assad's military crackdown on popular unrest. State television showed rallies "supporting national unity and rejecting foreign interference" in the capital Damascus and the second city of Aleppo. There were demonstrations also in the eastern cities of Deir al-Zor and Hasaka, the TV said.
The Arab League approved the sanctions against Syria on Sunday, the toughest imposed against a member state, isolating Assad's government over repression now in its ninth month which the United Nations says has killed 3,500 people. "We do not agree with these sanctions and we will not go along with them," Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour told Reuters in Beirut.
Lebanon believes along with Iraq that the sanctions - which fall short of a full trade embargo - could harm their interests. On Monday, the Arab League appealed to Damascus, offering "a review of all of the measures" if Syria drops its opposition to an Arab plan to end the crackdown.
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