Qatari PM : Meeting with Assad "positive"

Visiting Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassim, who heads an Arab League ( AL) ministerial committee, said Wednesday the meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was positive, according to the official SANA news agency. "We sensed the Syrian government's keenness to work with our committee," said Jassim, adding "we will continue our meeting on Oct. 30." SANA, however, didn't spell out further details about the meeting. The AL ministerial committee, comprising foreign ministers of Qatar, Egypt, Oman, Algeria, Sudan and the AL chief Nabil al-Arabi, arrived in the Syrian capital of Damascus Wednesday to discuss ways to end the seven-months-long crisis through initiating dialogue between the regime and the Syrian opposition. Gulf countries who were working to suspend Syria's membership in the Arab League failed to lobby enough support during an AL meeting held in Cairo on Oct. 16. They instead gave Syria a 15-day deadline to enact a cease-fire and agreed to form a committee led by Qatar to supervise the situation in Syria, and called for a national dialogue between Syrian authorities and the opposition. The Syrian opposition at home welcomed the Arab League move. Just a few hours before the arrival of the AL delegation, hundreds of thousands of Syrians flocked to the capital's main square to show support for the embattled Syrian president. More than 3,000 people including army and security members have been killed in the turmoil in Syria, according to figures released by the United Nations. The United States and its European allies have slapped sets of sanctions on senior Syrian officials and entities, and called on Assad to step down. The Syrian government has vehemently defended its military operations, saying it's the target of a foreign conspiracy.