By Hussein Abdallah
The Arab League called Sunday for the immediate cessation of violence in Syria and invited the Syrian government for a round of dialogue with the country’s opposition to be held at the organization’s headquarters in Cairo.

“The necessary contacts with the government and opposition will be made in order to hold a conference at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo and under its sponsorship within the next 15 days,” Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani told reporters following a meeting which lasted a little more than two hours.

The league decided to form a committee, to be headed by Qatar, and include Sudan, Algeria, Oman, Egypt and the Arab League’s secretary general with the task of contacting the Syrian government and opposition in a bid to initiate dialogue between the two sides of the conflict.

“The league’s secretariat will remain in session in the meantime to follow up on the situation in Syria,” Hamad said, adding that Syria was the only country to voice reservations on the league’s final statement, specifically on Qatar’s heading of the committee.

Relations between Syria and Qatar have been strained over claims by the Syrian leadership that the Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite channel was playing a role in “magnifying” the events in Syria to shake President Bashar Assad’s rule.

Voices of angry protesters could be heard while the Qatari premier was reading the meeting’s final statement, as 2,000 anti-Assad protesters gathered outside the Arab League building on the edge of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the center of Egypt’s uprising.

“Freedom is on fire. Go away, Bashar,” they shouted.
The newly formed opposition body known as the Syrian National Council called on the Arab League to suspend Syria’s membership “until a new regime is born.”

It also appealed for the council to recognize it as the “sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.”
The Arab League’s decisions fell short of meeting the opposition’s demand to suspend Syria’s membership. Divisions were reported among league members on what actions to take in response to the situation in Syria.
Earlier Sunday, Syrian security forces opened fire on a funeral procession for an activist in the oil-rich east, a human rights group said.

“Syrian security forces in Deir Ezzor fired live bullets at a funeral procession for Ziad al-Obeidi,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in reference to one of its associates on the ground. “Some 7,000 people took part in the funeral which turned into a demonstration calling for the fall of the regime.” Obeidi, 42, was killed by security forces who were hunting for him in Deir Ezzor, a province in Syria’s east. He had gone into hiding in August during military operations in the area.

Security forces on Sunday carried out raids and arrests in the flashpoint central province of Homs and in the outskirts of Damascus, with 19 people arrested in Dmeir, the Observatory said.
Also in the Damascus region, 25 people were arrested, including three young women, in the town of Zabadani, it said.

The official news agency SANA, meanwhile, said an “armed terrorist gang” ambushed and killed two security agents in the city of Hama, a hotbed of dissent and focal point of a 10-day military operation in August.

It said two cars filled with arms were seized on the Homs-Tartus road and four “members of armed terrorist gangs” arrested. Thirty-four other wanted people were detained in Homs, the agency said.
A campaign of sweeping arrests has rounded up a total of 923 people over the past week, according to the Observatory.

Also Sunday, thousands of Syrian troops backed by armor opened fire in the resort town of Zabadani on the border with Lebanon, a day after heavy fighting in the area between army defectors and loyalist forces, residents and activists said.

Armored vehicles fired machine guns and anti-aircraft guns as they entered the town, in the foothills of the Anti Lebanon Mountains, 35 kilometers west of Damascus. Troops combed flat farmland near the town on Saturday looking for defectors, ransacked homes, seized cars and arrested at least 100 people, including three female college students suspected of participating in pro-democracy protests, they said.

“Soldiers accompanied by Military Intelligence have set up road blocks everywhere. Zabadani is now cut off from Damascus,” said one resident who gave his name as Mohammad.
Local residents said army defectors fought loyalist troops for several hours on Saturday, and two vehicles belonging to the security police were seen riddled with bullets.