Twelve people were killed on Monday in Syria where a peace plan monitored by Arab observers has failed to douse a 10-month-old struggle between President Bashar al-Assad and his foes. Arab foreign ministers will meet on Sunday to discuss the future of the mission sent last month to check if Syria was abiding by the agreement it accepted on November 2.
The Arab plan required Syria to halt the bloodshed, withdraw the military from cities, free detainees and hold a dialogue. Hundreds of people have been reported killed in Syria even since the monitors deployed on December 26 as pro-Assad forces try to crush peaceful protests and armed resistance to his rule.
Random gunfire by pro-Assad militiamen killed five people, including a woman, and wounded nine in the restive city of Homs, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. A sniper later shot dead a 16-year-old girl there, it added. It said five soldiers were killed when they tried to change sides during a clash with rebels in the north-western province of Idlib, adding that 15 soldiers had succeeded in defecting.