CAIRO: Arab league foreign ministers voting to extend their widely criticized Syria observer mission agreed Sunday on a new political road map that calls on President Bashar Assad to delegate power to his deputy and set up a unity government as a prelude to early parliamentary and presidential elections. The Arab League decided to extend the mission, a move that was rejected by opposition groups and Saudi Arabia, which said it was withdrawing its observers after the mission failed to end 10 months of bloodshed. Riyadh called on the international community to exert “all possible pressure” on Damascus.

Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told a news conference after the meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo that the Arab League would take the power handover initiative to the U.N. Security Council and ask for its endorsement.

The unity government would be responsible for setting up an independent commission of inquiry into violations committed against Syrian citizens during the 10 month uprising. The draft pledges Arab support for the unity government, as well as funds and support for a complete overhaul of the internal security forces in Syria.

The plan is reminiscent of an agreement for a transfer of power in Yemen.

The unity government would prepare for elections within three months to a constituent body that will draft a new constitution to be put to referendum.

It calls on Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby to send an envoy to Damascus to follow up on the political process.

It was not clear how the League might enforce any of these measures.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said the move to end their role in the controversial observer mission was being taken because Damascus had not kept its promises, hinting at sharp differences of opinion within the League’s ranks.

Riyadh “is withdrawing from the mission because the Syrian government has not respected any of the clauses” in the Arab plan aimed at ending the crisis, he said according to the text of a statement he made at a ministerial meeting.

“We are calling on the international community to bear its responsibility, and that includes our brothers in Islamic states and our friends in Russia, China, Europe and the United States,” Prince Saud said, calling for “all possible pressure” to push Syria to adhere to the Arab peace plan.

A panel, meeting behind closed doors, was briefed on the first month of the Syria monitoring mission by its chief, General Mohammad Ahmad Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan.

In a statement late Saturday, the general said the mission’s mandate was “to verify that the Syrian government has implemented the terms of an Arab League plan to solve the crisis, not to stop the bloodshed and violence.”

The opposition Syrian National Council, which been lobbying in Cairo for U.N. intervention, said it would reveal “a counter-report” late Sunday to try to discredit Dabi’s account.

Hundreds of Syrians have been killed since the observers began their work in late December and the SNC has called for the Syria file to be transferred to the U.N. Security Council for referral to the International Criminal Court, so that all Syrian officials implicated in “crimes against humanity” could be prosecuted under international law.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia, regional rivals of Syria and its ally Iran, are impatient for decisive action against Assad but military action against Assad would need unanimous backing and several states prefer a negotiated solution, League sources said.

While none have yet followed suit, a diplomatic source said the remaining Gulf states backed the Saudi position while Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Tunisia criticized its move.

The Security Council is also split on how to address the crisis, with Western powers demanding tougher sanctions and a weapons embargo, and Assad’s ally Russia preferring to leave the Arabs to negotiate a peaceful outcome.

Suggestions to send in U.N. experts to support the Arab observers made little headway at the last meeting earlier this month and Damascus has said it would accept an extension of the observer mission but not an expansion in its scope.

Qatar, which has led calls for escalation, said it that was time to rethink the mission and consider sending Arab peacekeepers.

“What is needed now is a full review of the work of this mission,” Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani told the ministers.

As the league met, violence continued in Syria. Two Syrian army officers, an infantryman, a rebel and two civilians died in clashes Sunday in Talfita, a village near Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Syria says 2,000 security personnel have been killed in the revolt.

Intermittent fighting continued in the town of Douma, 14 km northwest of the capital, which had been encircled by the military, said the U.K.-based rights group.

An opposition activist and a rebel fighter in Douma told Reuters by telephone the fighting had eased and the rebels held about two thirds of its main streets.

Masked fighters had set up checkpoints and a funeral procession for five civilians killed Saturday was passing through the town, they said. Angry cries could be heard in the background as they spoke.