Syria agrees to extend Arab League mission

Syria has agreed to extend a widely criticised Arab League observer mission for a second month, just hours after launching an angry tirade against the bloc's efforts to mediate in the crisis.
In a meeting yesterday with the mission's head, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan, Muallem assured Syria's "full engagement" with the observers, SANA news agency reported.
The decision came after the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council withdrew its monitors and called on the UN Security Council to take "all needed measures" to press Syria to implement the Arab League decisions.
Meanwhile Russia yesterday said it would consider "constructive proposals" to end bloodshed in Syria but was opposed to force or sanctions.
"We are open to constructive proposals that go in line with the set task of ending violence," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow after meeting his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu.
Lavrov said any UN Security Council resolution backed by Russia "must firmly record that it cannot be used or interpreted to justify anyone's outside military intervention in the Syria crisis."
His comments came after Russian and US officials held talks in Moscow on how to stop the violence in Syria.
According to diplomats, European and Arab nations want a vote early next week on a resolution condemning the Syrian crackdown and hinting at sanctions against Assad's regime.
On the ground, meanwhile, activists said the Assad regime's security forces were pounding the central protest city of Hama for the second straight day .
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 9 people were killed yesterday. 33 civilians were killed by fire from the security forces nationwide on Tuesday.