The Arab League said Saturday it was considering turning to the United Nations Security Council to end the violence in Syria, where at least 14 people were killed in a renewed government crackdown, according to the opposition.
Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim said that the pan-Arab organization's foreign ministers would meet in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss a proposal to forward an Arab peace plan on Syria to the world body, DPA reported.
"As Russia has gone to the (UN) Security Council, a proposal will be presented at the (Cairo) meeting on December 21 that the Arab League goes to the council to present the Arab initiative," he added on Saturday.
Russia and China on Thursday submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council on Syria.
"We are not talking about a military intervention, but we want the Security Council to adopt the Arab initiative," bin Jassim told reporters following talks by an Arab League committee on Syria in the Qatari capital Doha.
Led by Qatar, the committee comprises foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Oman and Sudan.
"We have reached a stage where we have exhausted all avenues to solve it (the Syrian crisis)," added bin Jassim, who is also Qatar's foreign minister.
He accused the Syrian government of procrastination on endorsing an Arab deal that would require it to allow monitors into the country, or face sanctions.
The Arab plan also demands the Syrian regime halt its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, initiate talks with the opposition and implement reforms.
Earlier on Saturday, an Iraqi delegation arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus and held "fruitful" talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, sources close to the delegation told dpa.
The delegation, led by Iraqi National Security Adviser Falah al-Fayadh, was also to go to Cairo to meet with the Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, the sources said.
According to an Arab diplomat based in Beirut, the delegation presented an "initiative" to al-Assad to end the crisis in the country, in which more than 5,000 people have been killed, according to the United Nations.
"The Iraqi delegation is heading to Cairo with a message to the Arab League that might help find a solution to the Syrian crisis before turning to the UN," the diplomat told dpa.
Iraq, which abstained from the Arab League's vote on imposing sanctions on Syria last month, has close trade ties with neighbouring Syria.
Meanwhile, Syrian security forces killed 14 people in three restive provinces, said activists.
Four people were killed in the eastern area of Deir Az-Zour, five in the central province of Homs and five in Idlib near the Syrian-Turkish border, activists based in Lebanon told dpa.
The Syrian state news agency SANA said security forces had clashed Saturday with "armed terrorists" in Homs and killed an unspecified number of them, including the group's leader.
News from Syria cannot be verified independently, as the authorities have barred most foreign media from the country since the anti-government protests began in mid-March.
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