As might have been expected, the 22 January meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo decided to extend the mandate of the League's monitoring mission in Syria for another month until 23 February. What was less expected was that the decision would provoke the Saudis into withdrawing their monitors, with Foreign Minister Prince Sa'ud al-Faisal announcing that "my country will withdraw its monitors because the Syrian government did not execute any of the elements of the Arab resolution plan. We are calling on the international community to bear its responsibility, and that includes our brothers in the Islamic states and our friends in Russia, China, Europe and the US." Two days later the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) followed suit, declaring that "the GCC states have decided to respond to the decision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to withdraw its monitors from the Arab League delegation to Syria" and that the group is "certain the bloodshed and killing of innocents would continue and that the Syrian regime would not abide by the Arab League's resolutions." 

It was not, however, the future of the rump monitoring mission (now reduced from 165 to 110 members)  which grabbed the headlines at the meeting, but the adoption of an unprecedented initiative calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Asad to step down and hand power to a deputy. (The eight-point plan reportedly envisages the creation of a new unity government within two months and elections three months later to choose a body to draft a new constitution which will be put to a referendum.) As the head of the League committee on Syria, Qatari Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad bin Jasim Al Thani, put it, "we ask that the Syrian regime leave and hand over power. We are with the Syrian people, with their will and with their aspirations." 

It would probably be an understatement to say that there was no chance that Mr Asad and his fellow Ba'thists would comply with this request, and on 23 January the state press agency SANA quoted an official source as saying that "Syria rejects the decisions of the Arab League ministerial council…and considers them a violation of its national sovereignty and a flagrant interference in its internal affairs…Syria condemns this decision which is part of the conspiracy against Syria."  Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muʹallim was equally scathing the next day when he said that "definitely the solution in Syria is not the solution suggested by the Arab League, which we have rejected. They have abandoned their role as the Arab League and we no longer want Arab solutions to the crisis." Mr Muʹallim forecast that "heading to the Security Council will be the third stage in their plan, and the only thing left is the last step of internationalization. They can head to New York or to the moon. So long as we are not paying for their tickets, it is none of our concern."

 Mr Muʹallim’s suspicions were confirmed on 24 January when League Secretary General Nabil al-ʹAraby and Shaikh Hamad sent a joint letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon giving details of the League's plan and requesting a "joint meeting between them in the UN headquarters to inform the Security Council about developments and obtain the support of the Council for this plan." With that the focus shifted from Cairo and Damascus to the Security Council in New York, where the Russians remained adamantly opposed to any suggestion of either sanctions or military intervention and where, on 25 January, Britain and France in consultation with Qatar tabled a draft resolution which "supports…the League of Arab States' initiative…to facilitate a political transition leading to a democratic plural political system…including through the transfer of power from the president and transparent and free elections." In response the Russians did not close the door on compromise, but indicated on 26 January that they would continue to promote the draft resolution they presented to the Council on 16 January. According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich on 26 January, "Russia introduced its own draft and worked on it taking onto account amendments by our western colleagues. It remains on the negotiating table. Consultations on the draft continue and we hope this work will continue."