Syria tentatively agreed on Wednesday to a set of demands put forward by the Arab League to help end the political and humanitarian crisis in the country.

During an Arab League ministerial meeting to discuss the situation in Syria, the Syrian delegation is reported to have agreed to end the regime's use of violence against demonstrators, to release political prisoners arrested since the outbreak of demonstrations last March, and to pull out all army vehicles that have been posted along the country's roads during the past twelve weeks.

Sources at the meeting -- which opened at 14:00 GMT at the headquarters of the Arab League -- told Ahram Online that the Syrian delegation offered no clear timeline as to exactly when it will implement the League's demands.

Meanwhile, the Syrian delegation still insists on putting off a proposal by the Arab League for it to hold a national dialogue conference at its Cairo headquarters. According to a Cairo-based Syrian diplomat, the President Bashar Al-Assad is determined to launch a national dialogue in Damascus in the next few days.

Arab diplomats, who spoke to Ahram Online on condition of anonymity, expressed scepticism as to how far the Syrian regime would go in honouring its commitment.

“The trouble is that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is convinced that it's only a matter of time before he can regain control of the country; this is not going to happen, he will not regain control of the country,” said an Arab diplomat who recently joined a high level Arab League delegation that was received by Assad in Damascus.

Meanwhile, members of the Syrian opposition residing in Cairo have expressed their dismay at what they view as a determined attempt by the Arab League to spare the Syrian regime its inevitable end.

For their part, Western diplomats in Cairo, who spoke to Ahram Online as the Arab League meeting was still unfolding, said they were convinced that Assad's regime will not fully implement the deal, and at the end of the day Bashar will have to realise that his legitimacy is forever lost.

“It’s only when he realises that there’s nothing he could do to remain president that the problem could be resolved,” said one Cairo-based Western diplomat who has served in Damascus. He added: “those who know Bashar well would safely argue that Bashar will not come to terms with reality at all.”

Leaked information on the draft resolution being discussed in the meeting underway include commissioning the Arab Ministerial Committee to issue periodic reports concerning the progress and execution of the terms of the to-be-agreed-to proposal, as well as round-the-clock Ministerial Council supervision of Syria's compliance.

Short link:

