Human rights activists in Syria say that more than ten people have been killed in violence in the anti-government flashpoints of Homs, Derra and Idlib.
It is reported that security forces fired on protesters in the city of Hama ahead of the arrival of monitors from the Arab League tomorrow.
Today the observers went to a flashpoint area in Homs, but some of their planned tour was curtailed when gunfire erupted.
The chief Arab League monitor in Syria said he saw "nothing frightening" on a first visit to Homs but France called his remarks premature and urged Syria to guarantee his team free movement.
The second day of monitoring was disrupted when locals in the Homs neighbourhood of Baba Amr, that has been pounded by tanks in a military crackdown on popular unrest, refused to speak with the observers in the presence of a Syrian army colonel.
The monitors aborted the visit to the district, where dozens of protesters have been killed by government tanks and snipers, and armed insurgents have shot back to protect the locals.
They later returned and entered Baba Amr unescorted but had to scrap an effort to check an area where residents believed detainees were being hidden by President Bashar al-Assad's forces because gunfire erupted nearby, activists told Reuters by telephone.
Unobstructed access and uncensored testimony are crucial to the Arab League's mission to verify whether President Assad is honouring a deal to withdraw tanks and troops that have attacked protesters, free prisoners and dialogue with the opposition.
"Some places looked a bit of a mess but there was nothing frightening," Sudanese General Mustafa Dabi, chief of the monitoring contingent told Reuters.
"The situation seemed reassuring so far," he said after his team's first foray into the city of 1 million people, the epicentre of revolt against Mr Assad.
"But remember,this was only the first day and it will need investigation. We have 20 people who will be there for a long time," Mr Dabi said. The monitoring team is to number 150 in all, with most due to arrive by the end of the week.
President Assad's opponents say he turned his military forces loose on peaceful protests in March and has carried on a relentless crackdown for nine months since, driving Syria in the direction of civil war as some anti-Assad Syrians have taken up arms.
Mr Assad says he is fighting Islamist terrorism from outside Syria. Over 2,000 soldiers and police have been killed in the past nine months, according to the government.
Activists say about a third of the estimated 5,000 people killed in unrest in Syria since March died in Homs. Dozens have been killed in the past week alone and thousands arrested in the months before the 22-state Arab League was invited in.
International journalists are mostly barred from Syria, making it difficult to confirm accounts from conflict zones.
Activists in Homs said they showed monitors some buildings riddled with bullets and mortar rounds and pointed out what they said were tanks, but had only two hours with them on Monday.
Western powers split over intervention
Western powers have shown no desire to intervene militarily in a volatile region of Middle East conflict. The United Nations Security Council is split, with Russia and China against interference.
President Assad says he is fighting an insurgency by armed terrorists who have killed 2,000 soldiers and police.
State television today flashed news that Syria has freed 755 people detained in the unrest "whose hands were not stained with Syrian blood". Releasing detainees is part of Mr Assad's pact with the Arab League to defuse the crisis.
But there are still 15,000 Syrians in detention, according to Amnesty International.
