Arab League mission in Syria ends

Syrian government troops pulled backtanks and other armoured vehicles from the town of Zabandi asobservers in the country preparedto hand in areporton their missionto Arab foreign ministers.

Zabandihas witnessed heavyexchanges of fire between army troops and anti-government military defectors over the past six days. But activists sayarmoured vehicles havewithdrawnto two military barracks a few kilometres outside thetown bordering Lebanon.

Arab foreign ministers,meanwhile, wereexpected to review the monitors' report at the league's headquarters in Cairo over the weekend to decide on their next steps. The report was to be delivered to them onThursday.

Last month, theleaguedispatched165 monitorsto fan out over Syria and oversee an agreement calling onthe regime of President Bashar al-Assad to stop the militarycrackdown on dissent and release political prisoners.

Qatar, which heads theleague's committee on Syria, has suggested the mission has failed. The oppositionclaims it only served as acover for the regime to continue its brutal crackdown against protesters.

The United Nations estimates5,400activistshave died since the popular uprisingbegan last March and that more than 400 have been killed since the Arab observer mission began Dec. 26.

The pullback from Zabadani left the town under the control of the opposition, activists said. However, they said at least nine people were killed by security forces elsewhere in Syria.

Although the mission's initial mandatehas expired,the agreement allowing for their deploymentprovides for an extension for a second month if both sides agree. There's no suggestion from the Syrian government side thatit should be ended, so the decision is up to the Arab foreign ministers.

They meet in Cairo on Saturday, where they willbe considering a report from the head of the observer mission, drawing conclusions on its findings.

The Arab ministers may also discuss informally a proposal from Qatar for Arab troops to be sent to Syria to stop the clashes between protesters and government forces. It's an idea Damascus has angrily rejected.

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