AL chief "agrees" steps with Assad as six Syrians shot dead - Al-Bawaba

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby on Saturday said he had agreed a series of steps with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to help end violence in the country. Following talks in Damascus with Assad, Elaraby said he would present the proposed measures to Arab foreign ministers who are due to discuss Syria's crisis.

"I focused on the importance of an open national dialogue that encompasses all personalities on the basis of national reconciliation, in which the Arab League plays a main role," Elaraby was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Meanwhile, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five Syrians had been killed in the Bab Amro district of Homs during a raid by government troops and security forces. Additionally, a 45-year-old man was shot dead by security forces at a checkpoint in the northern province of Idlib, it added.