Syrian security forces shot dead 25 people on Thursday, including in cities being visited by Arab League monitors to check whether President Bashar Al-Assad is keeping a pledge to end a crackdown on popular unrest. The Arab League hopes its deal with Assad can stop nine months of bloodshed. More than 5,000 people have been killed, by a United Nations count, provoking international sanctions against Damascus and stoking fears of civil war. Anti-Assad activists have said the monitoring mission is too small and easily restricted by state security escorts that many protesters are afraid to approach. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Assad's security forces opened fire on protests in cities around the country, wounding around 100 people. Six died in Hama, a major hotbed of unrest, around the time monitors were entering the city for a first look. The British-based Observatory said security forces fired at a street rally in Douma, a Damascus suburb, killing four people. Enraged residents launched a civil disobedience campaign and thousands reportedly flooded the main square for a sit
