New batch of observers arrive in Syria
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Xinhua, December 29, 2011
A new batch of Arab observers arrived in the Syrian capital of Damascus Wednesday as their colleagues escaped gunfire in a restive neighborhood in central Homs province, private news website Syria-Now reported.
The report said a number of Arab observers came from Cairo on Wednesday, without giving further details.
Private Sham FM radio reported that armed men on Wednesday surrounded a car carrying four Arab observers in the al-Mraij neighborhood in Homs, adding that the car managed to escape to another neighborhood after Syrian law-enforcement forces fired at the gunmen.
The report could not be verified with the absence of official comments.
The observers, who were sent by the Arab League (AL) to monitor the Syrian government's implementation of an AL plan to end the country's months-long unrest, started their one-month mission Tuesday from restive Homs.
Head of the observer mission, Mohammed Ahmed Mostafa al-Dabi, told private Ekhbaria TV on Wednesday that "we saw armed men in Baba Amro area in Homs," pointing that his mission would deal with all the issues to convey the truth about the Syrian situation.
"We are working to restore the Syrian people's trust and to convey the entire truth," he was quoted by Ekhbaria as saying.
The TV said the team roamed through several neighborhoods in Homs.
Meanwhile, according to state-run SANA news agency's report, head of the AL Command Center of the Observers Delegation to Syria, Adnan Issa al-Khoudhir, said Wednesday that the observers continued their work for the second day in five cities with the full facilitation by the Syrian government.
Al-Khoudhir said in a statement that the observers are working freely with the authorities as stipulated in the protocol signed by the Syrian government, and the mission's chief al-Dabi are satisfied with the team's work.
The Syrian government signed the observer mission protocol in Cairo on Dec. 19, after the AL threatened to refer the Syrian crisis to the United Nations Security Council.
The observers are tasked with ensuring that the Syrian government abides by its commitments agreed in the AL peace plan, including removing its security forces and heavy weapons from urban streets, starting talks with opposition leaders and allowing human rights workers and journalists into the country.
Qadri Jamil, leader of newly-formed "the Popular Will Party", told Xinhua in a recent interview that the presence of the Arab observers would help rein in violent acts in Syria, adding that his party strongly supports the AL peace plan.
"If the observers are neutral, they would help the Syrian people... Otherwise, they could further complicate the situation," he said.
The Syrian government said last week that a total of 2,000 army and security personnel were killed during the months-long unrest. The United Nations put the total death toll in the country at more than 5,000.
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