Arab League observers see spike in Syrian violence

Fri Jan 27th 2012

The head of the Arab League observers in Syria says violence in the country has spiked over the past four days.

Sudanese Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi said in a statement Friday that three Syrian cities - Homs, Hama and Idlib - have witnessed a "very high escalation" of violence since Tuesday.

The head of the League's operations room for the mission, Adnan al-Khudeir, said 30 additional observers will be sent to Syria next week to bolster the mission.

The observers are in Syria to monitor a League plan to end the country's 10-month-old crisis.

The mission has been widely criticized for failing to stop the violence.