Ministers from the Arab League, which suspended Syria in response to the crackdown, are meeting in Cairo on Sunday to discuss forming a joint UN-Arab League monitoring team in place of a league observer mission that was suspended last month.

An official source at the league said another proposal called for the appointment of a UN-Arab League envoy to deal with Syria, adding that some states may also propose the league formally recognize the opposition Syrian National Council.

Sources told Al Jazeera that the league is going to form a new mission of about 3,000 observers that has an international character, under the supervision of the Arab League.

The new mission is expected to include observers from Arab and Muslim states, and other foreign countries will provide more sophisticated equipment to aid the mission.

Siege continues

Meanwhile, the siege on the city of Homs has continued, with rights groups saying at least four people were killed during Saturday's violence, and that three bodies of people who had been killed earlier were also recovered.

Opposition neighborhoods in Homs were hit by tank and rocket bombardments in the government's continuing crackdown on protesters there, with the city's Bab Amr area coming under concerted fire.

Security forces have also made house-to-house raids over the last two days in Homs, which has been under siege for the last week, anti-government activists have said.

They say at least 300 people have been killed there since the government's latest assault began on February 4.

In Hama, the Syrian Revolutionary General Commission (SRGC), a rights group that has organized protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, says that the army is continuing to maintain a heavy presence.

The group said troops raided the city's al-Sharia neighborhood and that heavy gunfire and mass arrests were reported from there and at least three other districts.

Reports of violence between security forces and anti-Assad forces were also reported from Zabadani and Douma, which is just outside the capital Damascus.

The SRGC said that at least 46 people were killed in Saturday's violence: 20 in Homs, 11 in Deraa, 11 outside Damascus, three in Idlib and one in Hama.

PHOTO CAPTION

A gunman takes position in the Lebanese city of Tripoli during clashes between Syria regime supporters and opponents.

Al-Jazeera