Deaths of civilians are being reported from continued violence across Syria, amid more defiance from President Bashar al-Assad and criticism of the Arab League's observer mission by one of its own monitors.

At least nine people, including a French journalist, were killed and several more were wounded in an explosion that struck a government-organized media trip to Homs, an opposition stronghold.

The news of the deaths came just hours after Assad appeared at a rally in Damascus on Wednesday to show popular support and a government in control.

Separately, the Arab League announced that it was delaying sending more monitors to the country after an attack on its team this week.

The Arab League currently has 165 observers in Syria, and recently said it would increase the numbers.

One observer who has just resigned told Al Jazeera on Wednesday the Arab League mission was a farce.

Anwar Malek, an Algerian national, said he resigned because of what he saw, and that the mission was falling apart.

Journalist killed

Gilles Jacquier of France 2 television became on Wednesday the first Western reporter to be killed in 10 months of unrest in the country.

Syrian state media said nine people were killed in an apparent mortar attack in the city of Homs, while a Belgian reporter was among 25 others injured.

According to an AFP news agency reporter at the scene, Jacquier was fatally wounded when a shell exploded as the group of journalists were covering demonstrations in the city.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, condemned the killing and called on Syrian authorities to shed "full light" on the circumstances of his death.

In Hama, another Syrian dissident area, military forces on Wednesday killed 13 people as they stormed the province hunting for army defectors, a leading opposition activist in Damascus told DPA.

Earlier, Assad, in his second speech in as many days, reiterated his accusations that the "homeland was reeling under the brunt of conspiracy".

Nevertheless, "the Syrians will undoubtedly triumph over the conspiracy, which is nearing its end," Assad told thousands of cheering supporters at a rally in Damascus' Umayyad Square.

Late on Wednesday, the Arab League said it was postponing a decision to send more observers to Syria after 11 of its monitors were injured in an attack earlier this week.

"The Arab League will not send more observers to Syria for the time being until the situation calms down," an unnamed official of the regional bloc told Al Jazeera.

PHOTO CAPTION

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad addresses his supporters during a surprise appearance at a rally in Umayyad Square in Damascus January 11, 2012.

Aljazeera