AMMAN - A top US official said Sunday that there is a need for peaceful means to end the unrest in Syria, labeling the developments in the country as "appalling," the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is leading his country to violence and sectarian strife through using security groups to suppress the peaceful protests, Jeffrey Feltman, US Assistant Secretary General for the Near Eastern Affairs, was quoted as telling a meeting at the US embassy headquarters in Amman.

"One of the peaceful methods that the international community asked the Syrian regime to accept is allowing monitors and media personnel to enter Syria to report what is happening on the ground, " Feltman said.

On Sunday, a Syrian official said that there is "mutual exchange of messages" between Syria and the Arab League (AL) pertaining the observers mission to Syria, one day after the AL gave Damascus a new deadline to allow in observers amid warnings of internationalizing the Syrian issue if Damascus refused the mission.