Arab League backs Annan plan for Syria

Arab League foreign ministers meeting in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, have agreed on a draft resolution on Syria, which calls for action on a UN-backed peace plan formulated by former UN chief Kofi Annan.

The UN-Arab League plan will see a UN-monitored end to fighting, troops pulled out of opposition areas and access for humanitarian services.

Syria agreed to the initiative however violence has continued throughout the country.

Washington has urged countries to maintain pressure on the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking at the summit on Wednesday, Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister, said "the Syrian crisis is not exclusively an Arab one, it affects the entire international community".

Speaking after the first day of the meeting, Zebari called for a "unified vision" when it came to resolving regional issues.

On Tuesday,Kofi Annan, the joint UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, said President Bashar al-Assad had agreed to the six-point peace proposal that urges an end to violence in that country.

Annan's proposal calls for the withdrawal of heavy weapons and troops from population centres, humanitarian assistance, the release of prisoners and free movement and access for journalists. It also calls for a temporary ceasefire to be established every day in order to allow medical and humanitarian aid to be delivered.

Arab states have backed away from their initial proposal, which demanded that Assad step down, after Russia and China vetoed two UN draft resolutions condemning him.

Before the summit began, the Iraqi foreign minister said the League would not accept foreign intervention in Syria.

The Annan proposal is the latest attempt to broker an end to more than a year of violence in Syria, after Assad sent troops into cities to try to crush opposition fighters and protesters seeking to end his 12-year rule.

Iran has also backed the Annan peace plan, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Damascus responded by saying that it would reject any initiatives made at the summit relating to Syria, according to the Lebanese TV channel al-Manar.

The Arab League suspended Syria last year, but members are split over how to handle increasing violence that threatens to inflame the region's complex ethnic and sectarian mix.

The summit marked the first time Iraq has hosted an Arab League summit since Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Iraq hopes its hosting of the summit shows it has emerged from years of turmoil and bloody chaos following the 2003 US-led invasion and occupation.