Activists say government forces have killed several hundred civilians since agreeing to the Arab plan to stop bloodshed
The Arab League sent monitors to Syria on Monday even though President Bashar al-Assad's regime has intensified its crackdown in the week since agreeing to the Arab plan to stop the bloodshed.
Activists say government forces have killed several hundred civilians in the past week. At least 23 more deaths were reported on Monday from intense shelling in the centre of the country, just hours before the first 50 monitors arrived, along with 10 officials.
In Cairo, an Arab League official said this mission was the Syrian regime's "last chance" to reverse course.
The Arab League plan requires the government to remove its security forces and heavy weapons from the streets, start talks with opposition leaders and allow human rights workers and journalists into Syria. The monitors are supposed to ensure compliance, but so far there is no sign Assad is implementing any of the terms. Opposition members say the regime's agreement to the Arab plan is a farce.In Cairo, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said the mission will begin work on Tuesday. Up to 500 monitors are to be eventually deployed and Syria has only agreed for them to stay one month.
Anwar Malek, a member of the monitoring mission, insisted they will have absolute freedom of movement and the team will travel to flashpoint cities including Homs, Daraa, Idlib and Hama.
The Arab League has suspended Syria's membership and imposed sanctions on Damascus but is deeply divided on how to respond to the crisis. Qatar and Saudi Arabia want a UN security council action on Syria. But other countries, wary of Syria's influence in the region, prefer an Arab solution.
Activists say the regime has stepped up its crackdown on anti-government protesters in the week since it agreed to the Arab plan. According to reports at least 275 civilians have been killed by government forces since then, and another 150 people died in clashes between army defectors and regime troops – most of them defectors.
Activists also claim 110 people were mowed down in a "massacre"last week. Turkey said the violence flew in the face of the Arab League deal.
Syria's top opposition leader, Burhan Ghalioun, called on Sunday for the League to involve the security council. The UN says more than 5,000 people have been killed since March in the political violence.
Assad signed only after the Arab League threatened to turn to the UN security council to help stop the violence. The opposition believes the authoritarian leader is only trying to buy time and forestall more international sanctions and condemnation.
The UN's most powerful body remains deeply divided over Syria, which has led to its failure to adopt a resolution and heightened tensions especially among major powers. Western nations and the US are demanding a resolution threatening sanctions if the violence does not stop. But Russia and China, which have closer ties to Assad's regime, believe extremist opponents of the government are equally responsible for the bloodshed and oppose any mention of sanctions.
After months of largely peaceful protests that were met with brute force and bullets, some opposition figures have started calling for international military intervention, but that is all but out of the question in Syria, in part because of fears that the move could spread chaos across the Middle East. Syria is a close ally of Iran, borders Israel, and holds sway over the militant group Hezbollah, which now dominates Lebanon's government.
The opposition warned that the government, which has been besieging the Baba Amr district in the city of Homs for days, was preparing a massive assault on the area. Activists said forces shelled the area with mortars and sprayed heavy machine-gun fire in the most intense assault since the siege began on Friday.
Baba Amr has been a focus of anti-government protests and army defections and has seen repeated crackdowns by the Syrian regime in recent months.
The Syrian conflict is becoming increasingly militarised with growing clashes between army defectors and troops.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, described the attacks in Homs as a kind of "hysteria" as government forces desperately try to get the situation there under control ahead of the monitors' arrival. "The observers are sitting in their hotel in Damascus while people are dying in Homs," he said.
The observatory called on the monitors "to head immediately to Baba Amr to be witnesses to the crimes against humanity that are being perpetrated by the Syrian regime".