Arab monitors

The US has called for the Arab League observer mission to have full access for its investigation into the government's clampdown on civilian protesters.

As Arab League monitors headed to more Syrian protest hubs Thursday, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner also urged human rights activists, who have condemned the mission as ineffective, to give observers more time.

"We do have confidence in the mission," Toner said. "It was just day one. It was one small area of Homs. We need to let this mission get up and running," he said.

Controversial choice

The mission's chief, Sudanese General Mustafa al-Dabi, also said the investigation of the regime's bloody suppression was still in its early stages, and needed more time to assess the problems on the ground.

Al-Dabi was criticized by the Syrian opposition for saying he had seen "nothing frightening" on his first visit to Homs, the city at the heart of Syria's anti-government uprising.

International human rights activists have said it is all but impossible to imagine a Sudanese general who was reportedly involved in the Darfur massacres recommending intervention to halt human rights abuses in a fellow Arab country.

Killing continues

Syrian activists also say that people are still being killed by government security forces despite the presence of the mission.

They say at least 11 people were killed at rallies across Syria, including four in Hama shortly after a monitoring team arrived there. Other reports spoke of as many as 29 dead, most killed in the area of Reef Damascus, near the capital.

International journalists are mostly barred from Syria, so such reports cannot be independently verified.

Hidden evidence?

There are also fears that Syrian authorities may be hiding political prisoners and other evidence of the crackdown from the monitors.

The group Human Rights Watch has accused the authorities in a statement of having “transferred perhaps hundreds of detainees to off-limits military sites to hide them from Arab monitors.”

"The Arab League should insist on full access to all Syrian sites used for detention, consistent with its agreement with the Syrian government," the statement said.

This comes as Syrian state television reported that 755 people detained in the unrest have been released.

Freeing detainees is part of the regime's agreement with the League to defuse the situation, but Amnesty International says there are still 15,000 Syrians in detention.

Unprecedented mission

The observers' main task is to oversee the implementation of an Arab League plan calling for the withdrawal of security forces from civilian areas and the release of people detained during the unrest.

The mission is the first of its kind in the history of the League.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in the Syrian government's crackdown on pro-democracy protests since they began in mid-March.

Attack in Germany

In another development, Germany has warned the Syrian ambassador to Berlin that it will not tolerate intimidation of Syrian exiles on its soil.

The warning comes two days after Syrian opposition activist Ferhad Ahma - who is also an active member of the Green party in Berlin - was beaten up early on Monday in his flat by two men allegedly of Arab appearance.

The German authorities have not actually accused Syrian agents of the attack, but they said there would be a rapid response if it were found that individuals with diplomatic accreditation were involved in the violence.

Germany also demanded on Thursday that Syria allow the Arab mission full access to prisoners and dissidents.

Aides to Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was urging "unrestricted access to all the sensitive locations."

Author: Dagmar Breitenbach, Timothy Jones (dpa, Reuters, AFP)
Editor: Nicole Goebel