A Syrian rights group says more Arab League observers are leaving the country to protest the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on a 10-month opposition uprising.

Mousab Azzawi of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told VOA 11 observers are expected to soon depart from Syria. He said the group of seven Iraqis, two Kuwaitis and two Emiratis had witnessed Syrian security forces firing on opposition activists Tuesday in the northeastern town of Deir el-Zour. Azzawi says 19 protesters were killed in the incident.

It was not possible to independently verify the death toll or plans by the Arab League observers to leave Syria.

An Algerian who became the first person to quit the mission earlier this week told the Reuters news agency three more observers have joined him. But many others in the 150-member delegation cannot leave Syria because of orders from their governments.

The observers began operating in Syria on December 26 to check President Bashar al-Assad's compliance with an Arab League plan to end his violent suppression of the anti-government revolt. But the United Nations and the United States say killings of protesters by Syrian security forces have continued and intensified since the monitoring mission began.

The Syrian government accuses terrorists of driving the revolt and carrying out a rocket attack Wednesday that killed French television reporter Gilles Jacquier in the central city of Homs. Jacquier is the first Western journalist to be killed in Syria since the unrest began last March.

One of Syria's main opposition groups, the Syrian National Council, blames the attack on the Syrian government. It says the killing of Jacquier shows the government not only is preventing journalists from operating freely, but also is “killing journalists” to try to silence independent media.

The United Nations estimates at least 5,000 people have been killed in the uprising, many of them peaceful protesters attacked by Syrian security forces. Others have been killed in fighting between the Syrian military and army defectors who have joined the rebellion in recent months.