Arab observers start field trips in Syria's restive areas amid more clashes

Arab League (AL) observers have finished their meeting with the governor of Syria's central Homs province, and headed on a field trip to the province's restive areas, the Syria-now local news website reported Tuesday without giving further details. A 50-member AL monitoring team arrived here late Monday as part of a plan to end Syria's months-long unrest, amid ongoing violence and "terrorist" attacks. Mission head Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed Mostafa al-Dabi flew to Damascus Saturday evening with a few assistants, a day after twin suicide bombings rocked two security centers in the capital, killing at least 44 and wounding 166 others. It was the worst violence since protests erupted against President Bashar al-Assad in mid-March. The monitoring mission is to ensure the Syrian government abides by its commitment to end its crackdown on protesters under the peace plan. Dabi said Monday monitoring had begun in Damascus, and monitors would go to other cities on Tuesday, including the third largest city, Homs (capital of Homs province), which has seen continuous violence between government forces and army defectors. He said the Syrian government had cooperated well, and had not put any restriction on the monitoring. Meanwhile, the official SANA news agency said that Syrian authorities clashed Tuesday morning with an armed group along the Turkish border and killed a number of its members. The group was trying to facilitate the infiltration of some gunmen from the Turkish territory into Syria, it said. A military source was quoted as saying that Syrian forces killed and wounded an unidentified number of the gunmen, and seized a large quantity of weapons and ammunition. It said other members of the group fled towards Turkish territories. The Syrian government said last week a total of 2,000 army and security personnel were killed during the nine-month-old unrest. However, a United Nations' tally claims more than 5,000 Syrians have been killed.