Hundreds of thousands of people thronged main squares across Syria on Thursday to demonstrate in solidarity with embattled President Bashar al-Assad and express rejection of the recent Arab League (AL) plan calling on Assad to step down.

Syrian across the country carried big posters of Assad and huge Syrian flags, changing slogans and singing national songs via loudspeakers.

"We are here to denounce the AL decision that came in compliance with the Western schemes against our country," Malek Ali, 30, told Xinhua during a rally at Saba'a Bahrat square in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Munsif Yusuf, 43, said "the Arabs should be ashamed ... why haven't they shown us their Arabism when Gaza was under Israeli rockets ... shame on them."

On Sunday, Arab foreign ministers decided to extend the observers' mission in Syria, providing them with technical and financial assistance, and to cooperate with the UN secretary general in this regard.

The AL, at the same time, urged Syrian President Bashar al- Assad to delegate power to his first vice president and a national unity government in a fresh initiative aimed at ending the political crisis in the country.

The initiative, announced after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers, stipulated the formation of a national unity government that should be formed within two months with the participation of the opposition, to eventually prepare for free presidential and parliamentary elections under the supervision of Arab countries and the international community.

The plan also urged the Syrian government to prepare a draft constitution to be approved through a popular referendum, demanding Assad delegate full powers to enable the national unity government to act in the transitional period.

The AL urged the Syrian government and all the opposition sides to start a political dialogue sponsored by the AL within two weeks.

Syria dismissed the initiative as "flagrant interference in Syria's affairs," but accepted to extend the observers' mission as the last ditch effort to avoid internationalizing the ten-month- old unrest.

The Syrian government has said that the turmoil in Syria is plotted by terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs. It said more than 2,000 army and security personnel were killed during the months-long unrest, while the United Nations put the death toll in the country at more than 5,400.