AMMAN: The Arab League rejected a request by Damascus to amend plans for a 500-strong monitoring mission to Syria, and President Bashar al-Assad said he would not bow to international pressure to stop a crackdown against protesters.
Within hours of Assad ignoring a deadline to halt the bloody crackdown, residents said two rocket-propelled grenades hit a major ruling party building in Damascus on Sunday, the first such reported attack by insurgents inside the capital.
Confronted since March by street demonstrations against 41 years of rule by his family, Assad said he had no choice but to pursue his crackdown on unrest because his foes were armed.
"The conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue. Syria will not bow down," he told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.
The Arab League, alarmed at the mounting death toll in Syria, rejected Damascus's request to alter a plan for the fact-finding mission, which would include military personnel and human rights experts.
"The additions requested by the Syrian counterpart affect the heart of the protocol and fundamentally change the nature of the mission," Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said in a letter to the Syrian government.
Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said the plan as it stood compromised the country's sovereignty but Damascus had not rejected the mission
Moualem said the proposed mission had "pervasive jurisdiction that reaches the level of ... violating Syrian sovereignty" and that he would send the Arab League a letter with questions about its role.
"We will reply to the Arab League secretary general by responsibly presenting a number of queries," he told a televised news conference in the Syrian capital.
ARAB LEAGUE DEADLINE
The Cairo-based League had given Damascus three days from a meeting on Nov. 16 to abide by a deal to withdraw military forces from restive cities, start talks between the government and opposition and pave the way for an observer team.
It was not immediately clear what action the Arab League would take after the deadline passed unheeded by Damascus. The pan-Arab body had threatened sanctions for non-compliance, and it has already suspended Syria's membership.
"Although the time-frame has ended, there have been no meetings or calls for meetings except at the level of delegations (to the League)," a representative of one Arab state at the League told Reuters.
In a statement, the League said it remained committed to a peaceful, Arab-engineered solution to the Syrian upheaval, touched off by other Arab popular revolts that have overthrown the autocratic leaders of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya this year.
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