This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Security forces have killed at least six people in central Syria on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, claim local activists.

Five of the deaths on Sunday occurred in the restive central province of Homs that has become one of the main centres of protest and reprisal during the seven-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, also claims that troops killed a sixth civilian in the city of Hama during raids.

Troops also fired live ammunition to disperse protesters near the capital, Damascus, and in the country's north. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The violence is adding to fears that a peace plan brokered by the Arab League is unravelling days after Damascus agreed to halt its crackdown.

The head of the Arab League warned on Saturday that failure of the plan would have disastrous consequences.

The 22-nation bloc's secretary-general, Nabil Elaraby, expressed "deep worries and regret for the continuation of violence all around Syria" despite the deal announced on Wednesday at the league's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

The deal called for Syria to halt violence against protesters, but opponents of the regime who held large protests on Friday to test the government's word were met with gunfire that left at least 15 people dead, activists said.

"The failure of the Arab solution will have disastrous consequences in Syria and the region," Elaraby said, urging the Syrian government to take "immediate measures ... to protect civilians and assure everyone".

On Saturday, activists reported more violence, including tank shelling, in Homs. At least five people were killed, according to two main activist groups, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Co-ordinating Committees.

Under the Arab League plan, Syria's government agreed to pull tanks and armoured vehicles out of cities, release political prisoners and allow journalists and rights groups into the country.

On Saturday, President Assad marked Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, by releasing 553 detainees, according to Sana, the state-run news agency. The detainees had been involved in unrest in the country but had "no blood on their hands," Sana said.

Assad traditionally releases detainees to mark religious or national holidays, but many more are believed to remain in jail as political prisoners.

Continuous shelling three days after the Arab League deal was reached suggests Damascus is unwilling or unable to bring a swift end to a crackdown that has already killed 3,000 people, according to UN estimates.

The crisis in Syria has burned since mid-March despite widespread condemnation and international sanctions. The protesters have grown increasingly frustrated with the limits of their peaceful movement, and there are signs of a growing armed rebellion in some areas.

Some protesters have been calling for the kind of foreign military action that helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

Tremors from the unrest in Syria could shake the region. Damascus' web of allegiances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shia theocracy. And although Syria sees Israel as the enemy, the countries have held up a fragile truce for years.