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Syrian opposition groups have been deeply critical of the mission, saying it is giving Assad cover for his crackdown. The Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of activists, says the observer mission is witnessing mainly regime-staged events, and they move about the country only with the full knowledge of the government. Syrian dissident Omar Idilbi told The Associated Press that statements by Arab League officials "were surprising and we were shocked by what they said." Idilbi was referring to Elaraby's comments in which he said Syria's government has pulled tanks and artillery from cities and residential neighborhoods and freed some 3,500 prisoners." "Many videos posted by activists show that tanks are still in the streets, and since the mission arrived in Syria, the regime is staging wild campaigns of arrests," he said. Still, he said, the mission's presence had advantages such as ending the regime blackout on what is going on in Syria and releasing some activists. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the regime must not be allowed to interfere with the observers on the ground. "The conditions in which this observer mission is taking place need to be clarified," he told French television I-Tele. "Does it really have completely free access to information? We await the report that it will submit in the coming days to see more clearly." Amateur video posted online by activists showed observers going on with their work in different parts around the country. In the southern village of Tafas, in Daraa province, observers visited the home of a person who was said to have been killed by security forces. The mother of Khaled Majed Kiwaz told an observer at her home "he did not participate in any protest." The woman, dressed in mourning, said her son and his paternal uncle "were shot while leaving a mosque" last month. Activists reported more violence Tuesday. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that as dozens of soldiers were defecting in the southern village of Jassem, they came under fire from security forces in a clash that killed at least 18 government troops. The Observatory said security forces later launched raids in the area, detaining more than 100 people. The group also said security forces shot and killed three people in the restive city of Homs and three in the central province of Hama. The LCC had a higher toll, saying security forces killed four people in Homs, two in the Damascus suburbs of Kfar Batna and Arbeen, four in the central province of Hama, and one in the capital. While most of the violence reported early in the uprising involved Syrian forces firing on unarmed protesters, there are now more frequent armed clashes between military defectors and security forces. The increasing militarization of the conflict has raised fears the country is sliding toward civil war. The head of the observatory, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said activists will try to organize a rally Wednesday of 100,000 people in Homs modeled after Cairo's Tahrir Square. Such attempts were forcefully disperse by security forces in the past. Syria has banned most foreign journalists from the country and prevented independent reporting, making it difficult to confirm claims from either side.
[Associated
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