'Nothing frightening'

Observers from the Arab League said they were broadening their investigation of Syria on Wednesday to include three more key protest sites, having found "nothing frightening" after a visit to the city of Homs.

The three protest hubs include the provinces of Hama, Idlib, and Daraa, where according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights army defectors have killed at least four soldiers in fresh fighting.

Daraa has been one of the centers of more than nine months of protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Assad's government has waged a military crackdown since March, killing an estimated 5,000 people, but has pledged to end the action and grant the observers full access.

"We are unarmed people"

Amateur videos posted on YouTube on Tuesday appeared to show Syrian residents in the flashpoint city of Homs pleading with visiting Arab League monitors for "international protection" as they arrived for the first day of their fact-finding mission.

"We are unarmed people who are dying," one resident is seen shouting to an observer.

Seconds later, shooting is heard from a distance as someone else begs a monitor to venture further into the Baba Amr quarter of the city, where clashes have been especially fierce.

"Come and see. They are slaughtering us, I swear," he screams.

Syria has banned foreign journalists from the country, making it difficult to verify the source of clips.

But Syrian security forces are reported to have used tear gas and live bullets to disperse a crowd of 70,000 people gathered in the centre of the city. Many demanded Assad's execution.

Observers under fire

The team of around 60 observers, headed by Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, are seeking to determine whether the regime is fulfilling a pledge to stop military action against protesters.

Dabi, a veteran Sudanese military intelligence officer, reported on Tuesday that the first day of the mission had been successful.

"I am returning to Damascus for meetings and I will return tomorrow to Homs," he said. "The team is staying in Homs. Today was very good and all sides were responsive."

But critics have suggested Dabi is unsuitable for the job.

"Why would you pick someone to lead this investigation," asked Professor Eric Reeves of Smith College Massachusetts in the United States, "when he is part of an army that is guilty [in Sudan] of precisely the sort of crimes that are being investigated in Syria."

Tanks pull back

Just hours before the arrival of the monitors the Syrian military pulled back some of its tanks, which residents and activists claimed had been heavily shelling Homs for days. On Monday 34 civilians were killed in the city's Baba Amr district.

The pullback was the first indication the regime would fulfill its promise to to remove security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders and allow human rights workers and journalists into the country.

But the United States has echoed claims by activists that the Syrian regime has in fact intensified its crackdown on anti-regime protesters as hundreds have been killed within the last week.

"We have seen horrific pictures of indiscriminate fire, including by heavy tank guns, and heard reports of dozens of deaths, thousands of arrests, as well as beatings of peaceful protesters," US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner on Tuesday.

"If the Syrian regime continues to resist and disregard Arab League efforts, the international community will consider other means to protect Syrian civilians," added Toner.

Syria says it is fighting foreign-backed terrorists who have killed more than 2,000 of its security forces.

Author: Zulfikar Abbany, Charlotte Chelsom-Pill (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Editor: Sean Sinico