Arab League foreign ministers have agreed to extend the mission of an observer team trying to monitor the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on a 10-month opposition uprising.

The top diplomats from Qatar and other Arab nations met in Cairo on Sunday. Officials say they called for the Arab League observer mission in Syria to be strengthened and demanded an end to violence in the country. The monitors began operating on December 26. It was not immediately clear what steps will be taken to boost the mission, which has about 150 people in Syria.

Syrian opposition activists and rights groups have criticized the observers, saying their presence has failed to secure any easing of the crackdown by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Some critics have called on the League to withdraw the monitors.

Arab League officials said pulling out the monitors was not on the agenda of the Cairo meeting, chaired by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who also serves as foreign minister. The Arab ministers received an initial report on the observer team's progress from its Sudanese chief, General Mohamed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi.

More than 50 opponents of President Assad rallied outside the Cairo hotel where the Arab ministers met, chanting anti-Assad slogans. They want an end to his 11-year autocratic rule.

The United Nations says violence related to Mr. Assad's suppression of the rebellion has killed at least 5,000 people. Damascus accuses armed terrorists of driving the revolt and killing 2,000 security personnel.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says army defectors who joined the uprising killed 11 pro-Assad troops and wounded 20 others in a battle on Sunday in the southern province of Daraa. The British-based rights group also says Syrian security forces and pro-Assad militiamen also killed at least 10 civilians on Sunday in attacks on opposition protest hubs. It says seven of those killed were in the central province of Homs.

There was no independent confirmation of the casualties because Syria bars most foreign journalists from operating freely in the country.