Saudi Arabia To Pull Monitors From Syria "Saudis Withdraw From Syria Mission"

Saudi Arabia says it will withdraw its observers from Syria despite the Arab League being set to extend the monitoring mission in the country for another month.
The monitors, whose mandate expired on Thursday, have faced criticism from opponents of President Bashar al Assad's regime as a bloody crackdown on protesters appears to have continued despite their presence.
The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) says they lack the resources to properly judge compliance with an Arab peace plan that Syria signed in November and has urged the Arab League to refer the situation to the United Nations Security Council.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Riyadh was pulling its observers from the mission because Damascus had not kept its promises.
Saudi Arabia "is withdrawing from the mission because the Syrian government did not execute any of the elements of the Arab resolution plan", he said in a statement at a ministerial meeting of the Arab League in Cairo.
"We are calling on the international community to bear its responsibility, and that includes our brothers in Islamic states and our friends in Russia, China, Europe and the United States."
Prince Saud urged "all possible pressure" to be applied to push Syria to adhere to the peace plan. 
The Cairo meeting had been addressed by the chief of the monitoring mission General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi. 
Dabi reportedly blamed both sides for the violence. He recommended extending the mandate, but cautioned that the monitors would not stay indefinitely.  
Syria's deputy foreign minister Faisal Mukdad told Sky News he did not think the withdrawal would affect the Arab League mission.
"I hope the reason behind withdrawing their team is that they are convinced the Syrian government has done its best as regard the mission," he said.
"We have fully co-operated with Major-General Dabi and I think we had a very good report about their work in Syria."
Saudi Arabia led calls for the Arab League to act after it withdraw its ambassador from Syria as the violence escalated in August.
Reporting from Damascus, Sky's foreign affair editor Tim Marshall said that although the Saudis' move was likely to increase tensions it would come as little surprise to the Syrians.
"The Syrians and Saudis are basically enemies ... This is a deeply political move by the Saudis who are not normally known for their deep commitment to human rights issues.
"The Saudi embassy was attacked here two weeks ago, there is a fire engine stationed next to it permanently now in case it gets again, that's how strong the feeling runs here."
Opposition activists said that Assad's forces killed at least 35 civilians on Saturday, while the state news agency said at least 14 prisoners and two security personnel died in an attack in Idlib.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory For Human Rights also claimed army defectors had temporarily taken control of the town of Douma after fierce clashes with the military.
The Arab League deployed observers in Syria for a mission on December 26, and there are presently about 165 monitors on the ground.
The UN Security Council is split on how to address the crisis, with Western powers demanding tougher sanctions and a weapons embargo and Russia preferring to leave the Arabs to negotiate a peaceful outcome.