Jordan's King Abdullah on Monday called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, the first Arab leader to do so after his regime said it will not budge despite mounting international pressure.

"I believe, if I were in his shoes, I would step down," said King Abdullah. "I would step down and make sure whoever comes behind me has the ability to change the status quo that we're seeing."

His remarks were aired on the BBC after Assad's foreign minister, Walid Muallem, said the Syrian government would not budge despite being suspended from the Arab League.

"The decision of the Arab League to suspend Syria represents a dangerous step," Muallem told a packed news conference in Damascus, slamming the move as "shameful."

"Today there is a crisis in Syria which pays the price of its strong positions. Syria will not budge and will emerge stronger... and plots against Syria will fail," said the minister.

Muallem said there was evidence of international interference well before Syria was suspended, as well as a spike in operations by "armed groups" in the country.

He blamed this violence for delays in withdrawing troops from the streets, as the Arab League had demanded, hitting out at France and the United States for the premature decision.

He also accused Washington of "encouraging acts of violence" when it urged opponents not to surrender in response to a regime offer for them to hand over their weapons in return for amnesty.

"We were puzzled and surprised by this foreign interference," he said.

Assad has come under mounting global pressure over a bloody eight-month security crackdown in response to unprecedented democracy protests that have turned against his regime.

The United Nations says more than 3,500 people have been killed.

The Arab League voted to suspend Syria on Saturday, triggering attacks by angry pro-regime mobs on the Damascus embassies of France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

And Muallem apologised, saying: "It is important... that this does not repeat itself. The protection of the embassies is part of our responsibilities."

Qatar and Saudi Arabia were among the 18 countries in the 22-member Arab League that voted to suspend Syria. Lebanon, Syria and Yemen voted against the move, while Iraq abstained.

Muallem also said Syria was not concerned about the likelihood of foreign military intervention, due to the opposition of China and Russia, and the fact Europe was still paying for NATO's air war in Libya.

"Syria is not Libya. The Libyan scenario will not be repeated; what is happening in Syria is different from what happened in Libya and the Syrian people should not worry," he said.

"I think that the position of Russia and China, which we thank them for... will not change," said Muallem, also thanking India, South Africa, Brazil and Lebanon for their positions in the Security Council.

His remarks came as the Arab League called a new meeting on Syria for Wednesday.

Muallem said however that he believed the crisis in Syria was approaching its end.

"I think that the crisis is reaching the beginning of the end," he said, while issuing a call for dialogue with the opposition.

"The programme of reform is clear," he added in reference to a series of measures the Assad regime has announced since the protests broke out, including promises of a new constitution for a multi-party political system.

Western governments have repeatedly criticised the Syrian regime for failing to implement the reforms and for following the announcements up with even more bloodshed, prompting many to say Assad's time is up.

In Brussels, the European Union tightened the noose on Syria on Monday, slapping new sanctions on Assad's regime and urging the UN to act to protect civilians after eight months of bloodshed.

Shortly after going into the talks, the EU ministers agreed to blacklist a further 18 Syrians associated with the lethal crackdown and freeze loans offered to Damascus by the European Investment Bank.

"It's important that the EU consider additional measures," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said. "We have taken very strong measures, I think we can add to those."

Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi at the weekend said representatives would be "studying mechanisms it could implement to protect civilians in Syria," but gave no details.

Arab foreign ministers had met in Cairo on November 2, when they drew up a plan under which Syria would pull troops back from protest hubs and free arrested demonstrators.

The meeting had given Syria 15 days to comply with the plan and on Saturday the Arab bloc decided that Damascus had failed to keep its side of the bargain.

Under the vote, Syria's suspension is due to go into effect from Wednesday, when the foreign ministers are due to meet again in Morocco to assess the degree to which Damascus had applied the November 2 deal, official say.

And the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation warned Monday of the possibility of a greater international response to the Syrian crisis if the regime does not comply with calls for reform and end the bloodshed.

If Syria "does not comply with the legitimate demands of the Syrian people and international calls by the OIC, the Arab League and the United Nations, it will risk the internationalisation of its crisis," OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said.