Arab FMs to hold Syria meet in Saudi

Arab foreign ministers are to meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday to discuss the Syrian conflict, the Arab League said on Thursday. The meeting was called by Riyadh, which backs armed rebels in Syria, to discuss the "steps that need to be taken to deal with the Syrian tragedy," the Cairo-based organization’s deputy chief Ahmed Ben Hilli told reporters. More than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of an armed uprising in 2011 against President Bashar Assad. U.N.-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said last month that a resumption of peace talks in Geneva between Damascus and the opposition was "out of the question" for the moment. In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council, Brahimi accused Damascus of delaying efforts to resume the negotiations, according to diplomats in New York. Source: AFP