Mass anti-Assad protest in Homs as monitors visit

Tens of thousands of Syrians in Homs rallied on Tuesday against President Bashar al-Assad, emboldened by Arab peace monitors' first tour of the flashpoint city, after the army withdrew some tanks following battles that killed 34 people in 24 hours.
"There are at least 70,000 protesters. They are marching towards the city centre and the security forces are trying to stop them. They are firing tear gas," Rami Abdelrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters.
The observers want to determine if Assad is keeping his promise to implement a peace plan to end his uncompromising military crackdown on nine months of popular revolt that has generated an armed uprising, edging Syria towards civil war. Some protesters shouted "we want international protection" in a video posted on YouTube apparently showing a street encounter with the Arab League observers in which some residents argued and pleaded with them to venture further into the Baba Amr quarter, where clashes have been especially fierce.
Bursts of gunfire erupted towards the end of a video, after a resident yelled at one monitor to repeat what he had just told his headquarters.
"You were telling the head of the mission that you cannot cross to the second street because of the gunfire. Why don't you say it to us?" the man shouted, grabbing the unidentified monitor by his jacket. The monitor said he was not authorised to make statements. Gunshots crackled nearby as two monitors and two men wearing orange vests stood amid a crowd of residents, one begging the team to "come and see; they are slaughtering us, I swear".
Activist reports just before the monitors arrived said up to a dozen tanks were seen leaving Baba Amr but others were being hidden to fashion a false impression of relative normality in the city while observers were around.
"My house is on the eastern entrance of Baba Amr. I saw at least six tanks leave the neighbourhood at around 8 in the morning (0600 GMT)," Mohamed Saleh told Reuters by telephone. "I do not know if more remain in the area."
Al Jazeera television showed an estimated 20,000 Syrians in a square in Khalidiya, one of four districts where there has been bloodshed as rebels fight security forces using tanks.
They were whistling and shouting and waving flags, playing music over loudspeakers and clapping. Women were advised to leave because of the risk of bloodshed. But a speaker urged the men to "come down, brothers" The protesters shouted "We have no one but God" and "Down with the regime". An activist named Tamir told Reuters they planned to hold a sit-in in the square.
"We tried to start a march down to the main market but the organisers told us to stop, it's too dangerous. No one dares go down to the main streets. So we will stay in Khalidiya and we will stay here in the square and we will not leave from here."
The autocratic Assad is internationally isolated. Western powers and his neighbours Turkey and Jordan have called on him to step down, which would end a 41-year-old family dynasty.
He says he is fighting Islamist terrorism steered from abroad and has defied calls to make way for a reformist succession as has transpired in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia after popular uprisings toppled dictators this year.
Armed insurgency is eclipsing civilian protest in Syria. Many fear a slide to sectarian war between the Sunni Muslim majority, the driving force of the protest movement, and minorities that have mostly stayed loyal to the government, particularly the Alawite sect to which Assad belongs.
Analysts say the Arab League is anxious to avoid civil war. Western powers have shown no desire to intervene militarily in a volatile region of Middle East conflict. The UN Security Council is split, with Russia - a major arms supplier to Assad - and China opposed to any hint of military intervention.
Assad's opponents appear divided on aims and tactics. He retains strong support in important areas - including Damascus and the second city Aleppo - of the country, and maintains a critical anti-Israel alliance with Iran.
On the border with Turkey, Syrian forces killed "several" men from an "armed terrorist group" trying to cross into Syria, the state news agency SANA said on Tuesday.
The northern border has become the route of choice for infiltration by army defectors fighting to topple Assad since Turkey's government, once a close ally, parted ways with him over the bloody repression of protesters.