Arabs agree Syria opposition contacts, peace force

CAIRO: The Arab League said it agreed on Sunday to open contacts with Syria s opposition and to ask the United Nations to form a joint peacekeeping force to the unrest-swept nation in moves swiftly rejected by Syria.Arab diplomats 'will open channels of communication with the Syrian opposition and offer full political and financial support, urging (the opposition) to unify its ranks,' it said in a statement..They would also 'ask the UN Security Council to issue a decision on the formation of a joint UN-Arab peacekeeping force to oversee the implementation of a ceasefire,' it said.After marathon talks in Cairo, the 22-member bloc also announced it had formally ended its own observer mission to Syria, suspended last month because of an upsurge in violence.Only Algeria and Lebanon expressed reservations about the resolution, an Arab League official said.Syria s ambassador to Cairo 'categorically' rejected the Arab League moves.'The Syrian Arab Republic categorically rejects the decisions of the Arab League,' which 'reflects the hysteria of these governments' after failing to get foreign intervention at the UN Security Council, Yusef Ahmed said in a statement. (AFP)