BEIRUT: Lebanon will decide Wednesday whether to take part in the observer mission to crisis-torn Syria, a government official told The Daily Star.

“Cabinet will make a decision regarding this issue in today’s meeting,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

Syria pledged Monday full cooperation with the Arab League after it finally agreed to allow an observer mission to monitor a deal to end nine months of bloodshed, in a move dismissed by the opposition.

The U.N. estimates over 5,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the crackdown by Damascus. Syrian authorities deny targeting civilians, blaming “armed gangs” for their deaths.

Soon after Syria’s announcement that it had signed the deal Monday with the Arab League, Nabil Elarabi, the organization’s general secretary, said an advance team of observers would head to Damascus within 72 hours.

Welcoming the deal signed at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo after weeks of prevarication, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem expressed hope that the bloc would lift sweeping sanctions imposed on Damascus.