CAIRO: The Arab League plans to call on the UN Security Council to take immediate action to protect Syrian civilians, it said in a statement released after an Arab League meeting.

“The Arab League will assign its Arab representatives in the UN Security Council in the meeting set to take place May 5 to ask the Security Council to protect Syrian civilians immediately,” a final statement said.

The final statement dropped a reference included in an earlier draft seen by Reuters to Chapter 7 of the Security Council charter, which allows it to authorise actions ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military intervention.