Syrian forces kill 25 protesters

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied near Damascus on Thursday as Syrian security forces killed at least 25 civilians nationwide and peace monitors spread out to areas hit by unrelenting violence. Some 30,000 people gathered in a square outside the Grand Mosque in Douma just north of the capital, prompting security forces to pull back from previously held positions, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Earlier, as Arab League observers arrived at Douma city hall, security forces opened fire on protesters outside the mosque, killing at least four and wounding several others, the rights group said. The observers, on the third day of a mission aimed at halting the bloodshed in Syria, also visited the central city of Hama, Idlib in the northwest, and Daraa in the south, according to Syrian television. SANA, the official news agency, said observers visited the Baba Amro neighbourhood of Homs, Harasta city, Daraa and Hama provinces "and met a number of citizens." Daraa is the cradle of the unprecedented nine-month protest movement against President Bashar al-Assad s regime, which has ruled Syria with an iron fist for 11 years. The United States said Thursday the presence of Arab monitors in Syria had offered some benefit to protesters even if it had failed to halt the regime s deadly crackdown. According to UN estimates announced in early December, more than 5,000 people have been killed in the Syrian government crackdown on dissent since mid-March. Activists say that more than 70 civilians have been killed by security forces since a first group of monitors arrived on Monday in Syria on a month-long renewable mission to implement an Arab League peace plan. France, the United States and Human Rights Watch have warned the Syrian regime against trying to hide the facts from the monitors, and Paris charged that the team was not being allowed to see what was happening in Homs. The League mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria after weeks of stalling. It calls for the withdrawal of armed forces from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence and the release of detainees.