Twelve more killed in Syria despite Arab monitors

Twelve people were killed on Monday in Syria, where a peace plan monitored by Arab observers has failed to douse a 10-month-old struggle between President Bashar al-Assad and his foes.

Arab foreign ministers meet on Sunday to discuss the future of the mission sent last month to check if Syria was abiding by the accord it accepted on Nov. 2. The mission ends on Thursday but the monitors may extend their stay to Jan. 22.

The Arab plan required Syria to halt the bloodshed, withdraw the military from cities, free detainees and hold a dialogue.

Hundreds of people have been reported killed in Syria even since the monitors deployed on Dec. 26 as pro-Assad forces try to crush peaceful protests and armed resistance to his rule.

Random gunfire by pro-Assad militiamen killed five people, including a woman, and wounded nine in the restive city of Homs, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. A sniper later shot dead a 16-year-old girl there, it added.

It said five soldiers were killed when they tried to change sides during a clash with rebels in the northwestern province of Idlib, adding that 15 soldiers had succeeded in defecting.

The state news agency SANA said an "armed terrorist group" had shot dead Brigadier-General Mohammed Abdul-Hamid al-Awad and wounded his driver in the countryside near Damascus.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated a call for Assad to "stop killing, and listen to his people."

During a visit to Abu Dhabi, he said: "I hope the UN Security Council handles Syria in a coherent manner and with a sense of gravity," but did not recommend any specific action.

"The casualties have reached such an unacceptable stage we cannot let the situation continue this way," Ban said.

The harsh response to the uprising by Assad's security forces has killed more than 5,000 people, by a UN count. The Syrian authorities say 2,000 members of the security forces have also been killed. The deaths of 32 civilians and soldiers were reported on Sunday.

The head of the Arab monitoring mission is due to report to an Arab League committee on Thursday before Arab foreign ministers gather on Sunday to consider their next step on Syria.

Adnan Khodeir, head of the monitoring mission's operations room, said the observers might stay in Syria until Jan. 22 while waiting for the outcome of the foreign ministers' meeting. Their mission officially ends on Thursday.

Qatar, which heads the committee, has suggested Arab troops step in, an idea that is anathema to Damascus and which Arab nations such as Iraq, Lebanon and Algeria are likely to oppose.

The League could refer Syria to the Security Council if it concludes that its own peace effort has failed.