Syria, Egypt and Middle East unrest

Syria

• The US warned the Assad regime the international community "will take additional steps" if the Arab League initiative is not fully implemented, in its most strident statement since protests began. The White House said Assad "does not deserve to rule Syria" and while it acknowledged violence by the opposition it said the state security forces were responsible for the "overwhelming majority" of violence.

• The opposition Syrian National Council has urged the UN to set up safe havens in Idlib's Zawyiyeh mountains to prevent genocide. In a press statement is also called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League and the security council.

• France said an "unprecedented massacre" was taking place in Idlib, as varying accounts emerge from the area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has the names of 56 people killed in the fighting in Idlib, but one activist told it that 121 bodies have been taken to local hospitals. The campaign group Avaaz claimed 269 people had been killed in the clashes - 163 armed revolutionaries, 97 government troops and 9 civilians. French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said: "Everything must be put in motion to end this murderous spiral into which Bashar al-Assad is dragging his people, deeper each day."

• More than 10,000 soldiers have deserted from the Syrian army according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Its sources claim half the conscripts are not reporting for duty.

• Eight engineers of different nationalities have been kidnapped by "an armed terrorist gang" in the central city of Homs, according to Syria's state news agency The Iranian government-owned Press TV said five of those seized are Iranian.

Continue Reading: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/dec/21/syria-egypt-middle-east-unrest-live