Syria rejects Arab League peace proposal

Syria has "categorically rejected" an Arab League resolution calling for a joint Arab-UN peacekeeping mission to end the country's 11-month conflict, BBC News reported.

Yusuf Ahmed, Syria's envoy in Cairo, said the plan "reflected the hysteria of these governments".

The EU on Monday backed the Arab League's "bold" plan but Russia said violence must end before any peacekeepers could be sent.
Meanwhile the UN General Assembly has started a debate on the Syrian crisis.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, who has been sharply critical of the actions of President Bashar al-Assad's government, is later set to address the assembly in New York.

The Arab League said it was ending all diplomatic co-operation with Syria, and promised to give "political and material support" to the opposition.

The League's moves come a week after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, which would have endorsed a previous Arab League peace initiative.