Two members of Syria's parliament have left the country, saying they are joining the opposition movement against President Bashar al-Assad, as the crackdown on anti-government protests continues.

Nawaf al-Bashir, a tribal leader and MP from Deir Ezzor, told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV on Monday that he had "come to Turkey to activate the opposition". He said he was a member of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the most prominent opposition bloc.

Bashir's announcement came a day after MP Imad Ghalioun, who represented the central city of Homs, also told Al-Arabiya that he had fled to Cairo.

He called Homs "disaster stricken" and said the city has been subjected to sweeping human-rights violations. Homs has been one of the most volatile regions in Syria since the uprising against Assad began in March.

Ghalioun said he was able to leave Syria before a travel ban was imposed on officials and that there are many legislators who support the uprising but have not said so publicly.

Bashir, speaking on Monday, said he had previously been coerced into appearing on Syrian state television to praise Assad's reforms and that he had been interrogated by security forces 75 times. He said he would be based in Istanbul but would undertake a tour of the Middle East to discuss the Syrian revolution.

The UN has said that more than 5,000 people have been killed since March, not including an estimated 400 people the organisation thinks have been killed in the past three weeks, despite the presence of observers dispatched by the Arab League.

Mounting toll

Activists said Syrian security forces fired on a town that observers were visiting on Monday. The team was in Ariha, in Idlib province, as part of the Arab League mission to monitor an end to the violence, the activists said.

The mission is due to end on Thursday but the monitors may extend their stay to January 22.

The activists reported the deaths of at least 21 people across the country on Monday.

Random gunfire by armed men loyal to Assad killed five people, including a woman, and wounded nine in Homs, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

A sniper later shot dead a 16-year-old girl in the city, the SOHR said.

It further said five soldiers were killed when they tried to change sides during a clash with opposition fighters in Idlib, and that 15 soldiers succeeded in defecting.

For its part, the state news agency SANA said an "armed terrorist group" killed Brigadier-General Mohammed Abdul-Hamid al-Awad and wounded his driver in the countryside near Damascus.

PHOTO CAPTION

Demonstrators burn images of Syria's late President Hafez Al Assad, to protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad after Friday prayers in Idleb, January 6, 2012.

Aljazeera