Qatar has proposed sending Arab troops to Syria to halt the bloodshed in that country, where violence has raged despite the presence of Arab League observers sent to monitor the situation.

In an interview to be broadcast on the U.S. television network CBS Sunday, the emir of Qatar said some Arab troops should go to Syria to “stop the killing” that the United Nations says has claimed more than 5,000 lives since the uprising began last March.

Syrian authorities say 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed by “armed terrorists.”

The emir is the first Arab leader to publicly support Arab military intervention in Syria, where protesters are demanding President Bashar al-Assad's resignation. He said the Arab League observer mission, sent to Syria on December 26, has made mistakes, and that U.N. assistance is needed to improve the monitoring of the Damascus government.

Meanwhile, violent clashes continued Saturday. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several people were killed in different parts of the country, including a 13-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man in the flashpoint city of Homs.