The Arab League said it won’t lift sanctions imposed on Syria, after President Bashar al-Assad’s government demanded the removal of the sanctions as a condition for admitting observers.



Syria is attempting to bargain with the Arab League, which imposed sanctions in response to Assad’s crackdown on opposition.



Assad’s government would agree to let in Arab League observers provided the league restored Syrian membership and ended the sanctions in an agreement signed in Damascus, Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said in a letter to the group, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency.



That response “will not lead to suspending Arab sanctions on Syria,” Arab League Secretary-General Nabil el-Arabi told reporters in Cairo.



“These sanctions are in force until another decision is adopted by the Arab foreign ministers,” he said.



At least 63 people were killed across the country over the weekend, according to Syrian human rights groups.



Seven people died on Monday in renewed violence, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to the New York Times.



The Arab League has repeatedly extended deadlines in its efforts to mediate the Syrian conflict, now in its ninth month.



The league increased pressure on Assad on Nov 27, when it imposed sweeping sanctions that included banning senior Syrian officials from traveling to other Arab countries, freezing Syrian assets in Arab countries and halting financial operations with major Syrian banks.



Those steps came amid more sanctions imposed by the US, the EU and Turkey.



Despite the pressure, the crackdown has continued. The United Nations said in a report last week that more than 4,000 people had been killed in the crackdown since mid-March. It also said Syrian military and security forces have committed crimes against humanity.

