Syria agreed yesterday to allow Arab observers to monitor a deal to end a nine-month protest crackdown, in a move dismissed by the opposition as a ploy and followed by even more reports of bloodshed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said between 60 and 70 army deserters were gunned down as they fled their military posts in northwestern Idlib province, while another 19 civilians were killed elsewhere.

The reports came as the UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning human rights in Syria – with 133 countries in favour, 11 against and 43 abstentions.

After weeks of prevarication, President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime signed a deal at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo to accept observers to monitor a plan to end the bloodshed.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said an advance team of observers from Arab countries would head to Damascus within 72 hours, and the mission would last for a renewable initial period of a month.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem welcomed the deal and expressed hope the bloc would lift sweeping sanctions on Damascus.

But Burhan Ghaliun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), accused Mr Assad’s regime of “manoeuvring” to avoid threatened UN Security Council action.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in the crackdown on nationwide democracy protests that erupted in mid-March, according to the UN’s latest estimate issued a week ago.

Meanwhile there was no sign of the bloodshed easing yesterday. Activists said security forces killed at least 19 civilians and left many wounded, including a child in the restive Damascus neighbourhood of Midan.

The child was wounded when security forces opened fire on demonstrators at the funeral of a 13-year-old girl killed on Sunday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The girl, Hala Mujaned, was struck by a bullet in the back, another group, the Local Coordination Committees, reported.

Another child was seriously wounded when security forces opened fire in northern Idlib province, where several other people were also wounded, said the Britain-based Observatory.

Army deserters killed three loyalist troops in Idlib province, it said in a statement sent to AFP in Nicosia.

Syria blames the unrest on “armed terrorist groups” – not peaceful protesters as claimed by Western powers and rights groups – and Mr Muallem said he hopes the observer mission will vindicate this contention.

He said the observers would be provided with security escorts, and that they would be allowed to visit only protest hubs and other flashpoints, not sensitive military sites.

Syria would also allow in foreign media, provided they report objectively.

The 22-member Arab bloc had been trying to persuade Damascus to accept the observer mission for weeks, and last month hit Syria with sanctions after it refused to sign the deal, saying it undermined its sovereignty.

“Signing the protocol is the start of cooperation with the Arab League and we will welcome the observers’ mission from the Arab League,” Mr Muallem told a news conference in Damascus.

The deal would not impinge on Syrian sovereignty, he said, after the League agreed to 70 per cent of changes sought by Damascus.

“Within two or three days, an advance team of observers... will be sent,” Mr Arabi told a joint news conference in Cairo with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Maqdad, who signed the accord.

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