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The Arab League approved sanctions against Syria on Sunday in hopes of convincing President Bashar Assad's regime to end a bloody eight-month crackdown against anti-government protesters.

Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said 19 of the League's 22 member nations approved the sanctions. Iraq and Lebanon abstained from the vote.

Bin Jassim said the sanctions include cutting off transactions with the Syrian central bank and cutting Arab governments' funding for projects in Syria.

The move is unprecedented for the League -- especially against a country that considers itself to be the pinnacle of Arab nationalism.

But if Syria's suspension from the League earlier this month is any indication, even Arab states are growing impatient with Assad's refusal to end violence that the UN says has claimed more than 3,500 lives since March.

"We aim to avoid any suffering for the Syrian people," bin Jassim said at a news conference in Cairo.

Earlier Sunday, Syrian officials in Damascus condemned the vote as a betrayal of Arab solidarity.

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird sent a series of tweets on Sunday that said Canada "welcomes the Arab League's courageous decision" to issue sanctions against the Assad regime.

"This is another important signal from Syria's neighbours that the egregious behaviour of the Assad regime will not be tolerated," Baird tweeted.

Baird said the Canadian government is calling on the United Nations to follow the Arab League's move "and further isolate this reckless and illegitimate regime."

He also urged Canadians who may be in Syria to leave by whatever means is available to them.

There has been debate over whether sanctions can actually improve the situation on the ground in Syria, a crucial question during a month that has seen clashes between troops and citizens intensify.

Nikolaos van Dam, a former diplomat and Middle East scholar, said the source of the sanctions – rather than the sanctions themselves -- could exert pressure on Assad's regime.

"U.S. and European sanctions are one thing, but coming from the Arab brothers and sisters, it is psychologically and realistically much more damaging," he told The Associated Press earlier this week.

There is, however, a chance that the Arab League may reconsider the sanctions but only if Syria agrees to an Arab-brokered peace plan, said Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby.

Part of the plan would include sending observers to the country and pulling tanks from the streets, said Elaraby.

The measures are reminiscent of a peace deal Syria struck with the Arab League in early November. Assad's regime didn't end up honouring the agreement, which called for Syria to release political prisoners and open up a dialogue with the opposition.

Syria's defiance appeared to fray the League's final nerves, triggering the coalition to suspend the country from the League. Prior to Libya's suspension this year, the League hadn't suspended a member since 1979.

"This is a regime that is, in a sense, fighting for its life," CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman told Â鶹ӰÊÓ Channel shortly after Syria's suspension.

When violence first erupted in Syria eight months ago, it was mainly a result of Assad's security forces firing on protesters. But the bloodshed has taken a different form over the last few months with activists reporting that more and more army defectors are attacking government troops.

Activists reported that about 26 people were killed on Saturday alone, with several of those deaths occurring in the flashpoint Homs province. Those numbers, however, are next to impossible to confirm with violence spilling into several parts of Syria.

With files from The Associated Press