Unrest continues in Syria

Arab League head Nabil Elaraby said on Friday he fears a possible civil war in Syria
that could have consequences for neighbouring countries, as the credibility of the League's monitoring mission was hit by members starting to walk out. An Algerian former monitor said several monitors had left Syria or might do so soon because the mission had failed to halt
President Bashar al-Assad's violent crackdown on a popular revolt against his rule. Syrian opposition groups say the monitors, due to present their findings to the Arab League's foreign ministers on Jan. 19-20, have only bought Assad more time to crush protests that erupted in March, inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere.