DPA CAIRO/BEIRUT THE Arab League has suspended its observer mission in Syria because of an upsurge in violence that has killed 200 people in the past three days. At least 50 people were killed on Saturday alone.

The decision came after consultations between the organization’s chief, Nabil al Arabi, and the head of the mission, Mohamed al Dabi, an Arab League diplomat said on Saturday.

The suspension was because of “the serious deterioration of the situation in Syria ... which contradicts to the conditions of the Arab plan” resulting in “killing innocent citizens,” the Arab League said.

The monitors will stay in Damascus until Arabi returns from the United Nations.

A source close to the mission said that 100 observers in Syria have warned Dabi they will stop their work because of the rising bloodshed in recent days. The source said most of the observers refused to leave their hotels in Damascus on Friday and Saturday and were awaiting a decision by their countries to leave. Arabi and Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al Thani are set to seek UN support for the latest Arab plan to end Syria’s crisis.

The plans calls for a two-month transition to a unity government, with President Bashar al-Assad giving his vice president full powers to work with the proposed government.

An oil pipeline was also set ablaze in the town at dawn, although it was not immediately clear if this was the work of saboteurs or the result of firing by security forces.