Najaf (Iraq): Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Saturday that it was "not possible" to impose economic sanctions on Syria due to its commercial ties with Iraq and the large number of Iraqi refugees there.
"It is not possible, in the opinion of Iraq, to impose
economic sanctions on Syria," Zebari told a news conference in
the Iraqi shrine city of Najaf.
"We announce our reservation on this issue," he said,
although it was not immediately clear if he meant that Iraq
would refuse to enforce a proposed package of Arab sanctions,
which was to be discussed by finance ministers on today and
foreign ministers tomorrow.
An Arab League deadline for Damascus to accept observers
or face sanctions passed yesterday without a response from a
defiant Syria.
With the deadline gone, Turkey said Syria`s failure to
open its doors to an observer mission heightened concern that
Damascus was trying to conceal a worsening humanitarian
situation.
Thousands of people have been killed since March as
President Bashar al-Assad`s regime has tried to suppress a
popular uprising.
PTI
