Arab FMs tells Assad to stop killing civilians

An Arab foreign ministers taskforce on Syria sent President Bashar al-Assad an urgent message on Friday denouncing the continued killings of civilians and called on him to protect them.The Arab ministerial committee expressed its rejection of the continued killings of civilians in Syria and expressed its hope that the Syrian government will take the necessary measures to protect them, said the message, which it published in a statement.The statement came as a Syrian rights group said soldiers killed at least 35 people on Friday.The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said most of the deaths were in Hama, in the north, and Homs, in the centre, and that security forces encircled mosques to prevent protests after weekly Muslim Friday prayers.The ministerial committee, which met Assad in Damascus on Wednesday, said it would meet Syrian officials on Sunday in Qatar to try to reach serious results and an exit to the Syrian crisis.The ministers said they had held frank talks with Assad on Wednesday in a bid to mediate with the opposition, as activists said at least 19 people were killed in violence that day.The meeting with President Assad was frank and friendly and we are going to continue our talks on October 30, said Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani.Headed by Qatar, the Leagues current chair, the delegation is comprised of the foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Oman and Sudan, in addition to Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi.Faced with a tough mission, Arabi has said he hopes the Syrian regime will agree to this initiative, and begin with genuine reforms, in comments to pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.