The member states of the Arab League were divided Sunday on whether to suspend Syria over its bloody crackdown on anti-government protests. Instead, the 22-nation body gave Syria 15 days to establish a ceasefire.

Foreign ministers met with Syrian diplomats at the Arab League's Cairo headquarters on Sunday, and emerged from the talks to announce the ultimatum.

After an initial three-hour meeting followed by another series of late-night talks, Qatar Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim emerged to tell reporters of the ceasefire deadline, while making no mention of suspending Syria from the League.

According to bin Jassim, the body agreed to create a Qater-led committee that will oversee the strife in Syria. He also announced a future meeting between Syrian government officials and opposition members, to be held at the League's Cairo offices.

"A national dialogue in 15 days is one of the most important decisions of the day," bin Jassim said.

Should either the meeting or the ceasefire fail to materialize, the League's member nations will hold an emergency session to discuss next steps.

It is unclear if either side in Syria will agree to the demands.

Suspension from the Arab League is a rare event, and would likely have little impact on events inside Syria.

Two-thirds of member states would have had to support the measure, which was spearheaded by six Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia. However, countries such as Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon and Yemen were opposed.

The 22-member League suspended Libya's membership earlier this year after Moammar Gadhafi launched a violent crackdown on protesters there. That gave the international community a free hand to intervene with air power to target Gadhafi's forces.

The League has since reinstated Libya under the country's new leadership.

Syria on ‘verge of a civil war'

Meanwhile, one human rights observer said Sunday that Syria is at the brink of a civil war and the international community must step in before unrest spreads throughout the region.

"We are on the verge of a civil war in Syria," a Syrian opposition activist Mousab Azzawi told CTV News Channel from London. "What happens in Syria is almost similar to what happened in Libya."

The volunteer for the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian protesters may soon join army defectors to overthrow the government and if that happens, "that civil war fight will not be limited to the boundaries of Syria but it will spread to the region and that will threaten all the resources for the international community in the region."

Despite international calls for an end to the bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters, President Bashar Assad has shown no sign of backing down or easing his campaign to crush the seven-month-old uprising against his regime. The UN says more than 3,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in mid-March.

On Sunday, security forces opened fire on a funeral for a slain activist in the east, while security forces arrested at least 44 people in the suburbs of the capital Damascus in house-to-house raids.

Many Gulf states have withdrawn ambassadors from Syria in protest.

2,000 protesters in Cairo

About 2,0000 anti-Assad protesters gathered outside the Arab League building on the edge of Cairo's Tahrir Square, the centre of Egypt's uprising.

"Oh, Bashar, son of a dog, go away, Bashar!" they shouted. "Freedom is on fire. Go away, Bashar."

The newly formed opposition body known as the Syrian National Council called on the Arab League to suspend Syria's membership "until a new regime is born." It also appealed for the council to recognize it as the "sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people."