Arab League extends Syria deadline

The Arab League has offered the government of President Bashar al-Assad three more days to stop violence or else face economic sanctions as a previous deadline for Damascus to act passed on Wednesday.

The announcement came after the league's foreign ministers had met in the Moroccan capital Rabat to decide their next move after Assad ignored the ultimatum issued on Saturday by a majority of the league.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition groups said 14 soldiers and 17 civilians were killed in violence on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera's Nisreen El Shamayleh reports from Amman, in Jordan.