Arab League Syria observers arrive in Homs

Arab League observers have arrived in Homs and are reported to be meeting local officials. Earlier Syrian army tanks pulled out of the Babo Amro area of the strife-torn city, reports said.

Reuters/Handout

Veteran Sudanese intelligence officer General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, who is heading the Arab League delegation, said Tuesday that the Syrian authorities had been very cooperative “till now”.

“Rocket fire and heavy machineguns” killed 18 people in Babo Amro, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also reported that 11 tanks pulled out of the area at 7.00 am.

Opposition sources claims that 34 people have been killed in the last 24 hours, including four army deserters killed in clashes with the military near the Turkish border.

The observer mission, which will eventually number 150-200, is part of an Arab League peace plan accepted by Syria on 2 November.

The plan also calls for the withdrawal of security forces from towns and residential areas, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of prisoners.

It is banned from sensitive military sites.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said he expects the visit will prove the government’s claim that the violence is caused by “armed terrorists” true.

But the head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghaliun, that the observers’ working conditions have not been properly negotiated and that the Arab League should take its plan to the UN Security Council.