The meetings will assess whether Syria has carried out all of the items in the protocol that it signed with the Arab League and determine a fresh position on the Syrian issue.

A research fellow with the Egyptian State Middle East Research Center, who only gave his name as Hossam, believed that the role of the Arab League observers mission in Syria is limited.

Hossam said that was the case from the very beginning because the Arab League abandoned the neutral position advocated by the UN. That abdication, Hossam said, led to criticism of the Arab League from the Syrian government and the opposition.

On the one hand, Hossam said, the Arab League has threatened and forced the Syrian government to accept its intervention and the observers' inspections.

On the other hand, he said, opposition dissatisfaction with the observers' performance is growing because violence has continued in the country despite the fact that the Arab League has been involved with the Syrian issue for months.

The opposition alleges that the Arab League involvement actually has allowed the administration more time and doubts the Arab League's role in solving the protracted unrest in Syria.

Mamun Hamm, a Syrian living in Egypt, said that if the Arab League cannot end the bloodshed in Syria, then the UN Security Council should impose a "no fly" zone and take other measures to ensure the safety of the Syrian people and force the government from power.

The Arab League said in a statement after its Cairo meeting that it decided to continue its observer mission in Syria and give the observers enough time to fulfill their duties and to avoid taking the issue to the Security Council.

Hossam said that internationalizing the Syrian issue is not the key focus of the Arab League now. Instead, he said, the focal point is to see what progress the observers in Syria make during the next 10 days.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, a large Russian naval flotilla led by an aircraft carrier docked in the Syrian port of Tartus to show solidarity with Syria.