Amid a cease-fire repeatedly marred by violence, Syria's government and the United Nations have agreed on a plan for implementing the peace agreement brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

A spokesman for Mr. Annan said Thursday the agreement outlines the role of an advance team of observers in Syria as well as provisions for monitoring the week-old cease-fire between government and opposition forces.

The spokesman says mediators are holding talks with opposition representatives on a similar agreement.

The U.N. Security Council debated a plan from U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday that would expand the observer mission in Syria from about 30 to 300 people.

Germany's U.N. ambassador, Peter Wittig, expressed reservations about the plan saying the Council must first make sure that “conditions are right” in the country before sending in a larger force.

Meanwhile, rights activists say Syrian government troops and army defectors clashed in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour on Thursday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the fighting left one person dead and several injured. The group also reports loud explosions and intense shelling in the flashpoint city of Homs.

“I think we need to go back to the idea of protecting the civilians. It was done in Kosovo and elsewhere. There is no reason why after 14 months of organized, collective and systematic killings that the international community is not looking at a plan that could help people to protect themselves.”

The U.N. says the crackdown in Syria has killed more than 9,000 people since March 2011.

A U.N.-backed survey on Thursday said more than 600,000 people are now internally displaced.