An Arab League observer mission is in Syria as part of an effort to end months of unrest and quell the regime’s violent crackdown on dissent.
The mission will see an initial group of 30 to 50 observers, accompanied by administrative and security staff.
Their arrival has been welcomed by Syria, however the opposition has been critical and called instead for the issue to be taken to the United Nations.
Syrian opposition leaders dismissed the mission as a mere "ploy" by the Damascus regime, though the Syrian government denies this.
"It is in our interests to see this mission succeed, because its task is to examine the situation on the ground, and it will realise that things are not black or white - they are much more complex," a foreign minister spokesman said.
After weeks of stalling, President Bashar al-Assad's embattled regime signed a deal at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Monday to accept observers to monitor a plan to end the bloodshed.
The observer mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on 2 November, which also calls for a halt to the violence, releasing detainees and the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts.
However, Damascus managed to obtain key concessions to the initial plan for observers, which Syrian authorities said was too vague and "did not take sufficient account of the national security" of the country.
Syria posed 18 questions to the Arab League and in the past 48 hours the final document was written by well-known Egyptian lawyer Ali al-Ghatit.
He is seen as close to the Syrian regime and the Arab League's secretary general Nabil al-Arabi.
According to the protocol governing the observers, they will number an "amount reasonable to accomplish the mission" and will include "Arab civilian and military experts chosen by Arab countries or organisations".
Their task will consist of "monitoring the cessation of violence on all sides, and to ensure the release of detainees arrested in connection with the current crisis," according to the text of the protocol.
Observers "should be free to communicate with anyone, in coordination with the Syrian government".
"They must also ensure that armed appearances have disappeared from the cities, and to ensure that the government allows the media to enter the country."
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said he expects the observers to vindicate Damascus's claims that the unrest has been caused by "armed terrorist groups," not peaceful protesters as maintained by Western powers and rights organisations.
The UN estimates that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the regime's crackdown since mid-March.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said the Arab League needs to show that its observers are "independent and able to work effectively" to dispel "well-founded fears of yet another Syrian stalling tactic".
