A planned visit to Damascus Wednesday by Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi in which he had been due to press the bloc's calls for reform has been postponed, diplomatic sources said.
"The visit has been put off to an undetermined date at Syria's request and a new meeting will be arranged soon," one diplomatic source told AFP on Tuesday.
The Arab League chief has been commissioned by the 22-member bloc to travel to Damascus with a 13-point document outlining proposals to end the bloodshed and push Syria to launch reforms.
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According to a copy of the document seen by AFP, Arabi will propose that Assad hold elections in three years, move towards a pluralistic government and halt immediately the crackdown on anti-regime protesters.
The initiative, agreed at an Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo last month, calls for a "clear declaration of principles by President Bashar al-Assad specifying commitment to reforms he made in past speeches."
The initiative angered Syria which said it contained "unacceptable and biased language."
MORE SYRIAN DEATHS
Syrian forces killed two people as they pressed their crackdown on dissent Tuesday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a 15-year-old boy and another civilian were killed by gunfire in the flashpoint central province of Homs, where another five bodies were found on Tuesday.
The latest bloodshed comes a day after the International Committee of the Red Cross said Syria had agreed, for the first time since anti-regime protests erupted more than five months ago, to allow its delegates to visit a detention centre.
More than 2,200 people have been killed in Syria since the almost daily mass protests began, according to UN figures. Human rights groups say that more than 10,000 are behind bars.
Assad's regime says it is fighting foreign-backed "armed terrorist gangs."
The proposal also calls on the Syrian government "to immediately end" the crackdown on protesters in order "to spare Syria from sliding into sectarian strife or providing justification for foreign intervention."
Arabi will also urge Assad to "separate the military from political and civil life" and to launch "serious political contacts" with members of the opposition.
After a special meeting on Syria that was held on August 27, Arab foreign ministers issued a statement urging an "end to the spilling of blood and (for Syria) to follow the way of reason before it is too late."
They also called for respecting "the right of the Syrian people to live in security and of their legitimate aspirations for political and social reforms," and tasked Arabi with travelling to Damascus.
Arabi told reporters in Cairo on Tuesday that he had been instructed by the Arab League "to carry a clear message to the Syrian authorities about the situation in Syria and the need to stop the violence and launch immediate reforms."
Syrian official newspapers Tuesday downplayed the importance of the visit, with the ruling party's mouthpiece, Al-Baath, criticising what is said was "the media buzz" that preceded the visit.
It said the media attention was "artificial" and aimed at pushing the Arab League into political manoeuvring turning the pan-Arab organisation into "the political arm of NATO military adventures instead of being the home of Arabs."
On the ground activists reported that anti-regime demonstrations took place late Monday near Homs, hours after Syrian forces raided several parts of the rebellious province where 12 people were killed earlier in the day.
According to activists, 13 people were killed around Syria on Monday.
