Syria and the United Nations signed an agreement on Thursday on terms for hundreds of observers to monitor a ceasefire, but diplomatic wrangling still lies ahead to persuade the West the mission will have the clout needed to ensure peace.
An advance party of half a dozen UN observers are already in Syria observing a week-old truce, but the question of whether that can be expanded to a full-blown monitoring mission is up in the air, especially as a week-old ceasefire has yet to halt violence in the worst-hit parts of the country.
The 15-member UN Security Council - divided between Western countries that want to topple Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Russia and China which support him - must agree the proposal to send a larger observer force. The council will meet on Thursday to receive a briefing from mediator Kofi Annan's deputy, Jean-Marie Guehenno.
"This preliminary agreement ... aims to facilitate the task of the observers within the framework of Syrian sovereignty," a statement from the Syrian Foreign Ministry said. US and European diplomats on the Council have suggested that Syria's lack of full compliance with a week-old ceasefire might make it difficult for them to support an expanded observer mission.
Russia and China will approve a mission only under a part of the UN charter that requires the consent of Assad's government, giving Damascus a veto over its mandate. Discussion has focused on a force of at most a few hundred people, a tiny fraction of the size of peacekeeping forces normally deployed to conflict zones.
In the first progress report since the Council passed a resolution on Saturday authorising the initial deployment of observers, Secretary-General Ban ki-moon said Syria has not fully withdrawn troops and heavy weapons from towns, failing to send a "clear signal" about its commitment to peace.
On Wednesday, gunfire erupted close to the advance team of UN observers, who had been swarmed by anti-Assad protesters. On Thursday the team went to a rural area near the town of Deraa, where the uprising against Assad began 13 months ago. Amateur video footage posted on the Internet showed the team's head, Colonel Ahmed Himmiche, wearing a UN-style turquoise bullet-proof vest as he walks through a crowd of protesters. A demonstrator wraps his arm around Himmiche and shouts: "The people want the execution of Bashar (al-Assad)," as Himmache, who must act as a neutral observer, looks ill at ease.