US says Arab monitors helpful in Syria

The United States said Thursday the presence of Arab monitors in Syria has offered some benefit to protesters even if it has failed to halt the regime's deadly crackdown. "We are concerned... that even though we have monitors on the ground and they are playing a role in some places, we also have a continuation of the violence," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Nuland cited reports of people killed in Homs, Hama and Idlib on Wednesday even as "monitors were trying to deploy" in those cities following the Arab League deal with President Bashar al-Assad regime. "That said, if you go up on YouTube today, you can see great pictures of a democracy rally in Idlib that went forward with quite a crowd, at the same time that the monitors were there," Nuland said.
"So clearly, their presence appears to have provided some space for public expression." The observer mission is headed by veteran Sudanese military intelligence officer General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, whose appointment has stoked controversy due to his service under Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
Nuland stressed that the United States wants the monitors to be able to travel anywhere in the country and be free to speak with anybody they want, including political prisoners. Syria, she said, must implement the terms of its deal with the Arab League and allow for the full deployment of monitors, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from cities, the release of all political prisoners and a stop to the violence.
Tens of thousands of protesters meanwhile rallied near Damascus as security forces killed at least 25 civilians nation-wide and monitors spread out to areas hit by unrelenting violence. 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, 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 north-west, and Daraa in the south, according to Syrian television.