8 January 2012

The Syrian government and armed groups should halt all violence with immediate effect, Arab League ministers have demanded.

Their call came at the end of a meeting in Cairo to review results of their observer mission to Syria so far.

The mission has been criticised as toothless, as bloodshed continues despite its presence.

Activists reported more than 20 new deaths in Syria on Sunday, including 11 soldiers in Deraa province.

Other clashes between soldiers and army deserters were said to be under way.

More than 100 people are said to have been killed in three days alone – although the reports are difficult to verify with most foreign media barred from working in Syria

According to the Syrian opposition Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), at least 27 people died around the country on Saturday – eight in Homs, 13 in Idlib, five in the suburbs of Damascus and one in Hama

Local opposition groups said 35 people had been killed in anti-government protests after Friday prayers .

At least 26 people died in a bomb attack in Damascus on Friday, some of them members of the security forces, state media say.

The observers visited the town of Bousra on Saturday with their two vehicles escorted by 100 soldiers. They saw a police station destroyed by the insurgents.

The town shows signs of slipping into a sectarian conflict. Its Shia Muslim community of 9,000, living alongside 20,000 Sunnis, has seen its shops and property attacked.

One Shia was killed by angry Sunnis who accuse the Shia community of being in the pay of the regime with its allies, Hezbollah and Iran.

The observers crossed a line of demarcation through the centre of the town to meet, on their own, the people of the Sunni areas who are in revolt.

When they came back, a rally against the regime erupted. Demonstrators demanded the execution of President Assad. The army did not shoot and the observers acted as a buffer between the two sides.

On the way back, angry villagers stopped the convoy to demand and obtain a meeting with the observers. The army and the media retreated from the scene, allowing the observers to interpose yet again before leaving in peace for their base in Deraa.

The UN says more than 5,000 civilians have been killed since protests against President Bashar al-Assad began 10 months ago.

The Arab League mission has been heavily criticised by the Syrian opposition for failing to stop, or even clearly condemn, the ongoing violence, the BBC’s Jon Leyne reports from Cairo.

But senior officials from the League have already said that there is no question of the mission being withdrawn and, instead, there is talk of strengthening it, our correspondent says.

‘Machine-gun exchanges’

The Arab League observers have been in Syria since late December to monitor compliance with a peace plan under which the government promised to withdraw the military from the streets and cease its use of force against civilians.

The ministers meeting in Cairo were expected to examine a proposal by Qatar for UN human rights experts to be invited to assist their work, in order to judge whether the Syrian authorities are honouring their pledge.

They were also to look at how the observers can operate more independently of Syrian authorities. Currently they are required to be escorted by members of the Syrian security officials.

Syria deaths

More than 5,000 civilians have been killed

UN denied access to Syria

Information from NGOs, sources in Syria and Syrian nationals who have fled

The list of deaths is cross-referenced by the UN

Vast majority of casualties unarmed, but the figure may include armed defectors

Tally does not include serving members of the security forces.

Critics say Mr Assad is using the monitors’ presence as a political cover and that attacks continue.

According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 11 soldiers were killed and at least 20 injured in fighting with deserters in Deraa.

A further nine defected to the deserters’ side, it added, in a report which could not be independently verified.

Heavy machine-gun exchanges between troops and deserters were also reported in the Deraa town of Dael, with no immediate reports of casualties.

Reporting other incidents, activists of the Local Co-ordination Committees said 14 people had been killed on Sunday, including a child.

They said 10 died in Homs, three in suburbs of Damascus and one in Deir Ezzor.

In another development, a Russian naval flotilla aircraft led by an aircraft carrier docked in the Syrian port of Tartus.

The carrier group is due to spend six days in Tartus, where Russia has a naval base dating back to Soviet times.