Gulf countries seeking to suspend Syria's membership to the Arab League over its bloody crackdown on protesters failed to gain enough support last night to push the measure through, reflecting deep divisions among the body's 22 nations.

Speaking after the meeting, Qatar Foreign Minister Shaikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani made no mention of a possible suspension and instead gave Syria a 15-day deadline to enact a ceasefire.

Arab foreign ministers met at the group's Cairo headquarters behind closed doors for an initial three-hour session without Syria's representative, then took a break and reconvened for talks with Syrian diplomats that lasted late into the night.

The Arab League also agreed to create a committee led by Qatar to oversee the situation in Syria and said a national dialogue between Syrian officials and the opposition would take place at the League's headquarters.

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

The national dialogue is to include members of the opposition from outside Syria as well as inside. If the meeting and a ceasefire do not take place within the allotted time frame, the Arab League will meet again in an emergency session.

Syria's ambassador to the League, Youssef Ahmed, told Arab ministers the timing of the meeting was 'strange and suspicious'.

'We hope it is not connected in one way or another to the failure of the US and its European allies against Syria in the Security Council, although we believe that to be the case,' he said.

The Qatari foreign minister denied the meeting was a response to diplomatic pressure.

The newly-formed Syrian National Council, a broad based opposition umbrella group, is seen unlikely to accept the call for dialogue.

'We said it from the day the first martyr fell: No dialogue with the killers. The killers will be put on trial by the free Syrian people,' wrote prominent Syrian opposition figure Suhair Atassi on her Twitter feed. She is in hiding.

As the ministers gathered for their meeting in Cairo, more than 2,000 protesters banged drums and waved banners outside the League headquarters calling Syrian President Bashar Al Assad a bloodthirsty criminal.

Meanwhile, thousands of Syrian troops backed by armour opened fire in the resort town of Zabadani on the border with Lebanon yesterday, a day after heavy fighting in the area between army defectors and loyalist forces.

Troops combed flat farmland near the town looking for defectors, ransacked homes, seized cars and arrested at least 100 people, including three female college students suspected of participating in pro-democracy protests.