The Arab League Council will hold an emergency meeting of foreign ministers on Syria in the Qatari capital on Sunday amid an escalating armed conflict between the government forces and rebels, the Egyptian website Youm7 reported.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al-Arabi will deliver a report on the Syrian developments while Arab League and UN deputy special envoy Nasser al-Kudwa, who has recently held consultations with Russia and Iran, and also met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, will report on the efforts to halt the armed conflict in the war-torn country.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France – agreed on June 30 in Geneva that a transitional government should be set up in Syria. The text of the document said this could include members of the government and opposition, although Russia later objected to U.S. suggestions that the deal ruled out any role for Assad.

The United Nations, quoting Syrian rights activists, says some 16,000 people have died in Syria since the start of the now almost 17-month revolt against Assad.

Russia's Foreign Ministry dismissed on Friday rumors that Assad’s British-born wife, Asma, had fled to Moscow following the death of the country’s defense minister in a suicide blast in Damascus on Wednesday.

The UN Security Council on Friday extended by 30 days the mandates of 300 international observers in Syria, with the possibility of further extension.

The resolution, drafted by the UK, was approved unanimously by the council’s 15 member states.

"This resolution makes a call to reduce violence. It is directed at both sides,” Russia’s permanent envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, adding that this “key amendment” was made on request from Russia and China.

On Thursday Russia withdrew its draft resolution on Syria, which backed UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan’ six-point peace plan and, together with China, vetoed a Western-backed draft over fears that it could lead to foreign military intervention in the violence-wracked Middle Eastern country.