Syria signs deal with Arab League to avert showdown at the UN

Syria has agreed to a demand by the Arab League to allow observers into the embattled nation as part of Damascus's efforts to end the 9-month-old crisis.

Under the agreement signed today, Syria will allow Arab League observers into the country, foreign minister Walid al-Moallem said.

Syria's deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad signed the deal in Cairo, in the presence Arab League secretary-general Nabil Elaraby.

Syria agreed to sign the deal after the 22-member Arab League accepted the amendments suggested by Syria.

The Arab League had given Syria until Wednesday to sign the deal beyond which, it had warned Damascus that it would move the UN Security Council for action to try to end the Syrian regime's crackdown on the popular uprising that the UN says has killed at least 5,000 people.

The agreement would help avert UN intervention in the Syrian crisis at least for the present, while giving other Arab nations a chance to cool growing violence in Syria and avert a civil war there.