Syria truce largely holds but 5 killed in protests

A Syria cease-fire was largely holding today as tens of thousands of protesters poured into the streets in the first major test of the UN-brokered truce. Activists said regime forces fired live bullets and tear gas in some locations, killing at least five people, but stood back in other areas where demonstrators beat drums and chanted anti-regime slogans.

President Bashar Assad's forces halted the large-scale shelling attacks on opposition strongholds that have pushed the country toward civil war over the past 13 months. But security forces backed by tanks, snipers and plainclothes agents maintained an intimidating presence in the streets and scattered violence was reported.

The UN-Arab league envoy, Kofi Annan, hoped to dispatch an advance team of up to 30 observers to Syria as quickly as possible to start monitoring the truce, and the UN Security Council was to vote on his request later today. If the relative calm holds, a beefed-up mission of up to 250 members was to follow quickly.

But Western distrust of the regime's intentions runs deep. French President Nicholas Sarkozy told a French TV station today that Syria's government must be closely monitored.

"I don't believe Bashar Assad is sincere," he said. "I don't believe in the cease-fire, sadly."

The truce, which formally took effect yesterday, is at the centre of Annan's six-point plan to stop the bloodshed and launch talks on Syria's political future.