Dozens of army deserters have been shot dead by Syrian troops as they tried to flee their bases and join anti-government protests, reports say. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 70 defectors were gunned down in the north-western Idlib province. The claim has not been independently verified as foreign media are banned from reporting in Syria. Damascus earlier agreed to an Arab League deal to allow monitors in. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the Arab League had accepted amendments demanded by Damascus.
The Arab League said an advance team of observers would go to Syria this week. In a separate development, the UN General Assembly voted by a strong majority to condemn the Syrian authorities for the crackdown, which has left some 5,000 people dead since the protests against President Bashar al-Assad began in March. The non-binding resolution - passed by a vote of 133 to 11, with 43 abstentions - demanded an immediate end to human rights abuses and called on Damascus to implement the Arab League plan.
Deal 'amendments'
On Monday, the Observatory said the deserters were killed in Idlib in heavy machine gunfire as they attempted to flee. The incident was also reported by local activists on the ground in Syria. The Observatory cited wounded survivors who claimed that as many as 70 people had been killed in the province - the main stronghold for army defectors. It also said that at least 13 protesters were killed across Syria on Monday. Separately, three government soldiers were killed in fighting with armed rebels in Idlib, the group said. The Local Co-ordination Committees, a group that organises and documents protests, put Monday's death toll across Syria at 31. The government of President Assad says it is fighting armed gangs, trying to destabilise Syria. The alleged shooting of the deserters came just hours after Damascus finally put its signature to the Arab League deal to deploy observers in Syria.
After the protocol was signed at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus had agreed because it wanted help to find a "political solution". "We want to emerge from this crisis and build a safe, modern Syria - a Syria that will be a model of democracy," he said. "The signing of the protocol is the beginning of co-operation between us and the Arab League and we will welcome monitors." He said Syria's sovereignty would be protected because the Arab League had agreed to amendments to the deal, which also calls for all violence to be halted, for the withdrawal of troops from the streets and the release of detainees. The observers would be "free" in their movements and "under the protection of the Syrian government", he added, but would not be allowed to visit sensitive military sites. Mr Muallem said he was confident that the observers would support the government's assertion that "armed terrorist groups" were stirring up trouble, and targeting security personnel and civilians.
Damascus 'manoeuvring'
