Arab monitors head to Syria, government kills 20

The Arab League forged ahead with plans to send teams of monitors into Syria Monday even though President Bashar Assad's regime has only intensified its crackdown in the week since agreeing to halt bloodshed, killing several hundred civilians according to activists.    

At least 20 more deaths were reported on Monday from intense shelling by government forces in the center of the country, just hours before the monitoring teams were to arrive. Activists said at least 275 civilians have been killed by government forces in the past week and another 150 people died in clashes between army defectors and regime troops most of them defectors.    

Members of the opposition say the regime's agreement to the Arab League plan is a farce.     

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the British-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."           

France expressed strong concerns about the continued deterioration of the situation in Homs and urged Syria's government to allow Arab League observers immediate access. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Syrian authorities should allow the observers access to the city "starting this afternoon."           

Although Syria showed no sign of altering its course, the Arab League said it was going ahead and officials declined to comment on the continued crackdown. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said 70 Arab monitors will arrive in the evening to join an advance team. Elaraby told reporters after meeting with the observers in Cairo that the mission will begin its work Tuesday. Up to 500 monitors are to be eventually deployed.           

Anwar Malek, a member of the monitoring mission, insisted they will have absolute freedom of movement in Syria, adding that the team will travel to flashpoint cities including Homs, Aleppo, Daraa, Idlib and Hama. He and other observers refused to disclose the exact travel itinerary, saying they preferred to maintain some secrecy to ensure the mission's success.

AP