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 regional bloc'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.

The league is "giving the Syrian government three days to stop the bloody repression" of its civilian population, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, the Qatari foreign minister, told a news conference after the meeting in Rabat.